What do you think about cross-gender characters?
This question had me thinking for a while. There are many facets and considerations beyond the obvious...after all, most of the people I know slip with the she/he thing on a normal basis just out of laziness, (and not just because genderbending is a kink of mine or anything. [grin])
(We can't quite remember who played Gerard in that ACNW LARP Todd ran where I did the Worst Rebman Jokes In The Entire World... but she was quite a distraction to me. Whew. [fans self, remembering] Something about the character was portrayed through the player enough... or maybe I have a Gerard fetish. Hmmm.)
I do think it happens to be easier to get women to play with a woman GM, despite the fact that no one's yet taken me up on the challenge of finding anything specifically across-the-board different from male and female players. I do sometimes wonder if men find it easier to play women characters with a female GM or not.
I've really never noted anything that's made me think, "Oh, that's SO unbelievable." Nothing that's made me squick on a gender-bias, but this brings up the chorus: "I play with people who can separate fantasy from reality."
Is it any better to have a woman play a chainmail-bikini-wearing bimbo than having a man do it?
I've never really had too much problem running a "macho" character. On the other hand, it's probably notable that I could care less if the other people in my gaming group thought I was "some kind of dyke." [grinning]
Are you losing something when you don't treat men and women characters differently?
I've seen campaigns where women PCs have been given significantly more potential for power. I've seen campaigns where male characters were (by the system) more likely to advance in level/power. It's still sexism no matter which way it's pointed.
On the other hand, I think that there are valid places for sexism in a campaign. It's another challenge for the characters. (There's a difference, I think, between character 'balance' [for as much as that applies] and campaign plot.)
Does it matter if a man or woman is playing the character, then? Sometimes it does because sometimes it's the GM's set-up that's biased because they know a woman (most often) has joined the campaign. That's yet another aspect.
I think the questions are very different, too, based on the medium in which the game is taking place. While I may refer to myself in the feminine, there are no physical reminders to suggest that it is anything more than a fancy of mine. (Heck, people have thought for years that the LintKing is but an alter-ego. I assure you, he's real and making snarky comments even as I type. Of course, you have only my word for it.) ("And mine," he says. Or so you think.) Similarly, if a man can express himself as a believable woman in an on-line forum, more power to him. Some of the best gay erotica I've ever read was written by women. (Which is not to say, unfortunately, that some of the best and worst lesbian erotica wasn't written by men...)
When asked if someone can play cross-gendered in my campaign, I'm much more interested in if they can play well at all...and no, I haven't been often disappointed.
What role does gender play in general in the campaign? A lot of time, asexuality can be the norm...and the male/female question is mostly a cosmetic piece, part of the description.. As I have run a game where gender and sexual orientation was a [some may say the] significant factor, I think that it's nice if you can treat it like everyone is an adult...and that there WILL be, if you're not running from crisis to crisis (and even sometimes then) attractions and distractions.
The personality of the character, I think, comes through strongest. Damascus, for example, is fairly "gender ambivalent," overall. She's often mistaken for a man, and it doesn't bother her. In the stories I've written for her, however, she's fairly lusty, just not monosexual. Queen Jelica has been known to roll her eyes and mutter, "Women." Marius was quite aware that Paige was a woman...but that doesn't mean he doesn't have issues.
As for whether or not I tend to think GMs should avoid it or not, that's an interesting question.
Frankly, the GM is the voice of "the world." I don't expect every NPC I meet to be fully-fleshed. On the other hand, I do think that what the GM shows of the world needs to reflect the world the GM has built. So if a male GM doesn't show a lot of women NPCs, I'd like to think there's an in-game reason. (I'll be more understanding if it's a matter of comfort level, but frankly, I-as-player think that I should be given a little bit of credit for Suspending My Disbelief As Necessary For Game Plot.)
I won't think twice about it. If it's a guy I'm NPCing it's because his being male is just part of his role. If it's a woman, similarly so. I'll try to portray it just as I will everything else that makes up that NPC's role.