I have rolled up numerous female characters, as have most of the other male players in my gaming groups. We game with a couple female players in each game, who so far have only rolled up female characters. It's a fairly common occurrence, and even the female players get a kick out of it. I think it takes some of the pressure off of them, they have less to worry about a group of characters being overly male-dominated if over half the party are females characters...
As for myself personally, it's all about how the character manifests in my imagination, or what kind of imagery inspires me. I don't see myself as "the female character", as much as I'm role-playing a character who simply happens to be female.
|
I have problems with the characters males make when they play female characters, but not with males playing female characters.
In my experience, I've seen way to many guys playing females and it was always either they were
Lipstick Lesbian (and not played like any real female I've ever known)
Slut
Dominatrix
Dominatrix Lipstick Lesbian/Bi-sexual Slut
They were alway high charisma so they were always portrayed as one poster put it "big tits"
When I hear a guy say "I'm playing a female character" it sets off alarm bells, but I'm not uncomfortable unless it winds up as one of the listed above.
However I've played a female specifically to break that stereotype and play a real character who wasn't one of the above, and had a great time for the short time it lasted.
Anyone else think its a little suspect that Judge_Jack made this post, possibly knowing full well that it would generate a lot of discussion, and then disappeared?
I was wondering why he wasn't replying myself.
Anyone else think its a little suspect that Judge_Jack made this post, possibly knowing full well that it would generate a lot of discussion, and then disappeared?
Not really; not everyone checks message boards every day/hour/minute.
|
I have problems with the characters males make when they play female characters, but not with males playing female characters.
In my experience, I've seen way to many guys playing females and it was always either they were
Lipstick Lesbian (and not played like any real female I've ever known)
Slut
Dominatrix
Dominatrix Lipstick Lesbian/Bi-sexual SlutThey were alway high charisma so they were always portrayed as one poster put it "big t%%*"
When I hear a guy say "I'm playing a female character" it sets off alarm bells, but I'm not uncomfortable unless it winds up as one of the listed above.
However I've played a female specifically to break that stereotype and play a real character who wasn't one of the above, and had a great time for the short time it lasted.
Interesting. My samurai character has a very high Charisma score and is very pretty. However, the Charisma score is because of her SCARY intimidation abilities... Hell, she give the half-ogre cleric in the party the willies when she stares down opponents.
Anyone else think its a little suspect that Judge_Jack made this post, possibly knowing full well that it would generate a lot of discussion, and then disappeared?
Regardless, there's been some good discussion that might be worthwhile to someone else. I'm not trying to condone stirring the pot and dashing (if that is what actually happened as hogarth pointed out); but something good has come out of it.
I think he disappeared because there hasn't been a single post agreeing with him...
In fairness, I don't think asserted an opinion, rather he just asked questions in search of some help.
|
|
Interesting. My samurai character has a very high Charisma score and is very pretty. However, the Charisma score is because of her SCARY intimidation abilities... Hell, she give the half-ogre cleric in the party the willies when she stares down opponents.
I'm not saying it's wrong to have a high charisma female character, but then to make it nothing more than an excuse to play "I'm really hot so guys do what I want for me, but they don't actually get any because I'm a lesbian, but I never let on because I want them to get me stuff." character
Basically if you use the high charisma to make an offensive charicature instead of a character.
Interesting. My samurai character has a very high Charisma score and is very pretty. However, the Charisma score is because of her SCARY intimidation abilities... Hell, she give the half-ogre cleric in the party the willies when she stares down opponents.I'm not saying it's wrong to have a high charisma female character, but then to make it nothing more than an excuse to play "I'm really hot so guys do what I want for me, but they don't actually get any because I'm a lesbian, but I never let on because I want them to get me stuff." character
Basically if you use the high charisma to make an offensive charicature instead of a character.
I just made a female character that is extremely beautiful, but she's got an 8 charisma cause she's a total b*tch.
I'm playing a female dwarf in a buddy's campaign that's a character I've played off an on for years. I love the idea of playing a strong female character and female dwarves always fit that niche in fantasy roleplay in my head. Plus, I get to speak in a German accent for 4 hours every other Sunday (I've never imagined dwarves as Scots [which seems to be the stereotype, at least in the US], always as Germans--probably because of my German language classes in high school and college). In our current group, our "leader" is a male bard with stupid high Charisma. Naturally my gruff little dwarf thinks he's the bees knees. Good RP times there.
I'm playing a female dwarf in a buddy's campaign that's a character I've played off an on for years. I love the idea of playing a strong female character and female dwarves always fit that niche in fantasy roleplay in my head. Plus, I get to speak in a German accent for 4 hours every other Sunday (I've never imagined dwarves as Scots [which seems to be the stereotype, at least in the US], always as Germans--probably because of my German language classes in high school and college). In our current group, our "leader" is a male bard with stupid high Charisma. Naturally my gruff little dwarf thinks he's the bees knees. Good RP times there.
I've always envisioned them very Norse like in attitude and accent myself (though obviously they don't go out on boats).
|
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
|
I just made a female character that is extremely beautiful, but she's got an 8 charisma cause she's a total b*tch.
<flirtswithdisaster> This was one of the headaches of writing up the lahamu. It doesn't drain your physical beauty with a bite (Look, he's gone from Brad Pitt to the Elephant man!) It drains that vibracnce, personality, charm. I was trying to avoid Charisma in the description, and realized that so many people equate Charisma with beauty that they forget the other aspects. Like I said in my elaboration, the lahamu would look at Billy Mayes as steak, and Paris Hilton as tofu.</flirtingwithdisaster>
|
|
To Judge_jack et al
Here is my 2 cp on the subject @ hand.
In 30+ years of RP my history looks somewhat like this:
The first few years I played males only, although as half the time I was also the GM , I played females too I guess.
In the late teens early 20's I started to, and still do, play about half female.
In a long running game I was in I played the F CL of the party (so high CHA), but I played that as force of will, not dropdead gorgeous, after all Hitler was highly carismatic but few would call him handsome.
The CL fell in love with the sorcerer of the party & in "typical
male fashion" HE didn't see it.
So we RP a few sesions, nothing too detailed, and SHE proposed.
All players enjoyed the game & still talk about that campaign.
In the current group I play with there are 8 players ,all male the Char. are 6 female and 2 male.
This particular bunch has one player who almost always plays Fem. some slutty some reserved.
His best was a F half Orc monk who just kicked a$$ and took names.
BTW there are two members who ONLY ever play males, and one of them is a bit of a power gamer so we have to kind of reign him in.
If J_J is watching or checks the progress of this, the only options I can offer are these
1) if the PLAYERS are upset,uptight,whatever try to talk the new guy into playing a guy.
2) if the player insists,then try to find out what's really bothering them , as others have said.
3) you can always tell the new guy cya , because the group is uncomfortable with you playing a Female.
Enetred for your approval respectfully,
|
I said this in a chat room, and I'll say it again here.
"Gender-Bending: Do it well or expect a Belt of Gender Changing."
I've never had the misfortune to play in a game where a female character was played badly, and I hope it never happens. My last character in Rise of the Runelords was female(all the others died, and one refused to come back from The Greenhills), I'm playing a female cleric in a Rise of the Runelords PbP, a female halfling warlock on Barrok's Tower, and a changeling in a homebrew game. Not one player in any of those games every complained about it, and I've been told I handle the RP really well.
It's strange - in all my many years of gaming, I have never once seen a male do a bad job of playing a female character. It hasn't happened often, but when I've seen it the player always does a really good job.
What I have seen on at least three different occasions is a female player who plays a sex-crazed, incredibly handsome male character and ends up making it just a one-dimensional stereotype.
As far as personal experience, both as player and as GM my characters tend to be predominantly male, but for the most part that's just because I like doing voices and accents for my characters and I have a deep voice. Now that I'm doing a lot more online roleplaying and no actual tabletop games (curses!) I expect that may change a bit. I'm also a writer, and I find that in my stories it's much closer to a 50/50 split between male and female characters.
Anyone else think its a little suspect that Judge_Jack made this post, possibly knowing full well that it would generate a lot of discussion, and then disappeared?
Yeah, being his one and only post, I'm thinking he's gotta be a relative. Not that it's been a particularly controversial topic...
This post is rather ammusing to me, considering I just started a game with 3 other men, and one girl. One of the men is the GM, and all the male players are all playing females, and the female player is playing a male. It is rather amusing. I am playing a Kelishite Princess (yes, she has the character trait to go with it), the other two men are playing a Iomedaean or maybe an Irorian (cant remember) paladin of and a Sarenraean cleric, while the female is playing a half-orc ranger
I have to agree with others, unless the other players are playing like only humans, and could never comprehend playing another race, then I realy can't see the issue, unless they are Chauvanistic or Sexist.
I'm playing a female dwarf
Whoah, stop right there, buddy. There's no such thing as a female dwarf... just male dwarves with muttonchops sans chin whiskers/mustache.
Anyone else think its a little suspect that Judge_Jack made this post, possibly knowing full well that it would generate a lot of discussion, and then disappeared?Yeah, being his one and only post, I'm thinking he's gotta be a relative. Not that it's been a particularly controversial topic...
Are you... my reflection?
|
|
Have yet to play a female character (have in WoW but that hardly counts), but i have a rogue that i plan on making an Assassin, and the more i think about it, the more i wish it was a female. Just had the character concept pop into my head and it seems to fit a female better.
Maybe i'll have him be confused and on the lookout for a powerful wizard who can cast a sex-change spell on him...that'd make for an interesting character imho.
|
Have yet to play a female character (have in WoW but that hardly counts), but i have a rogue that i plan on making an Assassin, and the more i think about it, the more i wish it was a female. Just had the character concept pop into my head and it seems to fit a female better.
Maybe i'll have him be confused and on the lookout for a powerful wizard who can cast a sex-change spell on him...that'd make for an interesting character imho.
Has anyone seen said character naked yet? If not talk to your GM maybe they would be ok with you switching the gender and it can slowly come out that "he" is really always been a she pretending to be a "he". Maybe she has enemies looking for her or something.
|
|
Has anyone seen said character naked yet? If not talk to your GM maybe they would be ok with you switching the gender and it can slowly come out that "he" is really always been a she pretending to be a "he". Maybe she has enemies looking for her or something.Have yet to play a female character (have in WoW but that hardly counts), but i have a rogue that i plan on making an Assassin, and the more i think about it, the more i wish it was a female. Just had the character concept pop into my head and it seems to fit a female better.
Maybe i'll have him be confused and on the lookout for a powerful wizard who can cast a sex-change spell on him...that'd make for an interesting character imho.
Not a bad idear...i'll have to bring that up and see how it goes.
Not really; not everyone checks message boards every day/hour/minute.
Its been 24 hours and still no sign.
I reckon if I asked a question to a board I'd be checking back a bit more often :p
|
|
Not a bad idear...i'll have to bring that up and see how it goes.Has anyone seen said character naked yet? If not talk to your GM maybe they would be ok with you switching the gender and it can slowly come out that "he" is really always been a she pretending to be a "he". Maybe she has enemies looking for her or something.Have yet to play a female character (have in WoW but that hardly counts), but i have a rogue that i plan on making an Assassin, and the more i think about it, the more i wish it was a female. Just had the character concept pop into my head and it seems to fit a female better.
Maybe i'll have him be confused and on the lookout for a powerful wizard who can cast a sex-change spell on him...that'd make for an interesting character imho.
Either that or the character had fallen into the Belt of Gender-Changing trap and is now trapped in a man's body... ;)
|
|
M. Butterfly, by David Henry Hwang.
I was actually inspired to read this play by one of the other threads on the Off Topic messageboard; I saw the movie a long time ago, and the only line I remembered from it was that line. It gives me chills thinking of how B. D. Wong performed it.
It was awesome - I saw it in college.
Off-topic: Zeugma - You going to OrcCon? Hope so, haven't seen you in like a year.
Somehow my female characters all end up being just like Aliera (from Steve Brust's Vlad novels), despite my initial efforts to play them differently -- although there are much worse things they could be, I suppose.
|
Off-topic: Zeugma - You going to OrcCon? Hope so, haven't seen you in like a year.
I'm not sure. I'm slowly going broke at the moment ([sarcasm] Thank you Blue Cross insurance! [/sarcasm]) and dealing with some things that have happened recently in my life.
That said, I want to make a Con at least once a year, so if you don't see me at OrcCon, expect to see me at Gateway.
To the OP: I honestly don't see any reason from what you said, so like many that replied, I'm sort of scratching my head about how your group reacted. That said, I'm rather biased, as when I actually get to play in games, I exclusively play female characters. Of course, that's partially because I'm a mtf transsexual, but... *shrugs*
The fact of the matter is that it makes me more comfortable to play female characters. Sure, they're not me, but each of my characters has some of myself invested in them, and I would never play with a group that tried to deny me my character simply based on gender.
I also don't see why your group has a problem with a male player playing a female character.
In my group it's absolutely normal that players play characters of the opposite genders. I've been playing about as many female as male characters, on our last DnD3e group a girl was playing a male gnome, i (male) played 2 females and one male character on that group (I gave up some characters after a while because i constantly had new ideas for different characters and didnt feel like my last one anymore), on another game, with the same people, but the mentioned gnome players was the GM, I and another guy played females, and another girl was playing a male character.
The PFRPG group I am currently GMing we dont have anyone playing an opposite gender character yet, but one player, playing a lizardfolk is undecided yet, I let him go without a gender so far, because for reptiles there is not much difference visible between male and female, so he can still decide.
I used to be in a group who would have looked at me weird for playing a female character, but even though they don't seem to see why anyone would do such a thing as playing an opposite gender character, they otherwise wouldn't have minded either.
It's never been an issue with any of my groups spread out over 30+ years of gaming. When I GM, I use male and female NPCs in about equal numbers, and when I play, I tend to play about as many females as males.
I've had many male players that enjoy playing female characters, some of whom play far more female characters than male. I've also had male players who never play female characters, but any of them I've asked about it have always said something along the lines of "I don't think I could do it right" but they didn't have problems or issues with those who do.
I've also had a number of female players that play male characters frequently, and no one has ever had an issue with that.
Now, all of that said, I have had players that did not like it when certain males played female characters. It wasn't a "he's a guy and should play a guy" issue, but was instead a case of "he can't do it right because all of his females are exactly the same." Usually the complaint centers around a player insisting on always playing a slutty female with a history of mental and/or physical abuse or a player insisting on always playing a dominatrix-type who is really a softie that is covering up her insecurities.
In these cases, its hard to work things out sometimes, because most players don't like to be told that others don't think they can roleplay a character (male or female) very well. It usually ends up with someone not playing in the game, and I've purposefully not invited certain players in past games because of these types of issues.
/Thread grenade!
So far its 83/1 in favour of "it is all good", and I don't think the OP is coming back. With a thread title of "male gamers who insist on playing female characters" I'll suggest the OP was wearing his heart on his sleeve and was looking for a very different outcome than what we have here... hence why no follow up post.
Well lets look at the three Ladies I play on these boards..(and one other who is my PFS character)
1)Heather Whiteraven...Korvosan sorceress..high charisma not only from looks but her empathy with people..determined to do good for the people of the city. Not overtly sexual but not averse to the ocassional tumble for fun.
2)Mellisa Evendale...Riddleport Rogue..classic shakespearean girl as boy ..not interested in sex with anyone...dark secrets in her past that she won't discuss with casual aqquantances.Trying to make her way in the world with as little fuss as possible
3) Andrea Flanagan...Witch..Merchant caste girl driven out of her home by the neighbours intolerance for her abilities..has been a camp follower for a mercenary band..now works as a barmaid..not above having sex for money but wants desperately to leave that life behind..
4) Andrina Dunstan..taldoran fighter..Merchant caste girl who sees the pathfinder society as her way to affording the cash to buy hersel;f a title and lord it over her one time peers like every other chinless wonder who was born with a silver spoon in his mouth.Totally Mercenary...
4 ladies all very different in personality, looks and manner..
|
|
First, if a player is playing an opposite sexed character for the purpose of their own sexually gratification; a kind of voyeurism if you will, (the reason SOME people go around without underwear on) and it is very obvious, then that is gross.
However, if the player made a female character, with no weird reasons to it, and the group went: "Harrumph!" Then we have discover: It is not the male player with a female character who has sexual identity issues, but the players.
Are your players the kind who are very self-aware of their sexuality, when, say, changing in a locker room? (I.E.: Are they uncomfortable being naked around other men?) Studies have shown the more uncomfortable you are in such situations, the more likely you are to be unsure of your sexual orientation.
Or is this an issue of machoism? Do the players view women as meek and meager, and so they cannot contemplate female adventurers?
I would love to discuss this more, but I think more information is needed.
First, if a player is playing an opposite sexed character for the purpose of their own sexually gratification; a kind of voyeurism if you will, (the reason SOME people go around without underwear on) and it is very obvious, then that is gross.
However, if the player made a female character, with no weird reasons to it, and the group went: "Harrumph!" Then we have discover: It is not the male player with a female character who has sexual identity issues, but the players.
Are your players the kind who are very self-aware of their sexuality, when, say, changing in a locker room? (I.E.: Are they uncomfortable being naked around other men?) Studies have shown the more uncomfortable you are in such situations, the more likely you are to be unsure of your sexual orientation.
Or is this an issue of machoism? Do the players view women as meek and meager, and so they cannot contemplate female adventurers?
I would love to discuss this more, but I think more information is needed.
Wow. Simply, wow.
The funny thing is that the very same topic comes often on MMORPGs forums, such as World of Warcraft.
Some people seem to have problems with males playing female characters, or females playing males.
Nobody wonders about elves, dwarves, gnomes, orcs, trolls, forsaken or whatever.
And nobody argues we all should play humans as we are all human players.
Curiously nobody says anything about games when you only have one character to play, like Tomb Raider, with Lara Croft.
I imagine some males wouldn't buy the game as they wouldn't be comfortable playing a woman.
/sigh
I play female characters about a third of the time. Most of the guys in my group have from time to time as well.
There's nothing wrong with it, obviously. In fact, I would say the people that are worried about "bad" depictions should lighten up unless they apply the same yardstick to other characters - if someone's playing a stereotype of a dwarf, it's not optimal, but it's not, "Well then as DM I'd consider disallowing it."
I don't think anyone is as... odd as to be against someone playing another gender per se, if it's just "I'm a chick killing orcs!" I think it's more of an insecure fear of romance/sexual situations coming up, and they feel that having a female character makes it more likely.
So I've got a really long, probably too detailed story on the one female character that I played recently, and how most of the roleplaying of the character happened pretty much in my head, was fairly consistent, and ended up not coming out in the session.
I played a female cleric of Besmara, the Pirate Queen in my Legacy of Fire campaign that I'm a player in, to replace the cleric of Sarenrae that died early on. My thought was to make a less "good" cleric that was more stealthy mechanically, and to make a character that was much more "edgy" in the roleplaying sense.
The cleric was the daughter of a Andoran ship's captain that was a famed privateer who worked against slave ships from various nations, including Katapesh. The daughter ended up in Katapesh because she knew it was the last place her father would look for her.
When her mother died, her father took her on board his ship, and she spent a lot of time with the sailors on the ship. At one point in time, her father made an unpopular decision restricting one of his crews, and briefly left his daughter on the ship, where she was brutalized by a few of the crewmen.
Her father never learned of the event, but he knew that the ship was now more hostile, so he began looking for a nanny for his young teenage daughter. As fate would have it, at a sea port he found a woman that was known as a "sea witch," but one that was always a friend to the man. She was secretly a cleric of Besmara.
The cleric's original purpose was to punish sailors that were disrespectful or cruel, and this is why she also adopted Besmara as her deity, but in the end, she was just enthralled with the sea and adventure, but even though she loved her father, she couldn't bare to see him or explain her new faith to him, and thus she first ran off to Absalom, then to Katapesh.
I had two things that I knew about the character. She was an alcoholic and she wouldn't let anyone touch her.
What was interesting was that after I played her as a drunk several times, my GM assumed that a drunk woman that was a cleric of a pirate goddess would also be a "loose woman." I can't really blame him, because I never fully fleshed out the character to him. I was worried that I had gone to a really dark place for inspiration for the character.
Long term, I wanted the character to become more heroic, kick her drinking habit, and come to terms with who she was and why she had to get out on her own.
What actually happened was that one time when my character was drunk to the point of passing out, the Ulfen bard decided that she was a good enough "port in a storm," and my cleric of Besmara ended up backtracking on one of her tenants, but with a twist . . . she had no memory of the event at all.
I thought about revealing the whole backstory that I had come up with for the character, but the more I played her, the more I was worried that I was really going to freak other players out with her backstory, especially the poor guy playing the Ulfen bard (I'm sure he'd be good with it now, in retrospect, but I was worried about "current awkwardness" at the time).
Minor Spoilers for Legacy of Fire:
In my own head, I loved the backstory I came up with for her, but there were definitely times that I felt like I was pushing my comfort zone, and several times I was worried about the rest of the party. In the end, I was a little relieved about having the character exit the campaign.
Are you... my reflection?Anyone else think its a little suspect that Judge_Jack made this post, possibly knowing full well that it would generate a lot of discussion, and then disappeared?Yeah, being his one and only post, I'm thinking he's gotta be a relative. Not that it's been a particularly controversial topic...
No. You shadow of me. Me am Messageboard Troll!
I think one of the inherent problems with gender-bending is the confusion of pronouns. Now, that might not be enough of a problem to warrent a no gender-bending rule in a group, or maybe it is. It really depends on the group. How much they are willing to deal with little annoyances.
First, if a player is playing an opposite sexed character for the purpose of their own sexually gratification; a kind of voyeurism if you will, (the reason SOME people go around without underwear on) and it is very obvious, then that is gross.
However, if the player made a female character, with no weird reasons to it, and the group went: "Harrumph!" Then we have discover: It is not the male player with a female character who has sexual identity issues, but the players.
Or instead of having to make a group rule on a person by person basis, one which you can't really decide on until the character has actually started being played, some groups may decide to just avoid the problem entirely.
Funny, reading the posts of male players so proud of their female characters, I can't help but notice how many have been victimized sexual or have taken to selling their bodies. I wonder, if you play male characters do you see the same number of characters with similar backgrounds? If not, maybe you have to ask why are you really choosing a female character for those types of backgrounds. What is about females that inspire you to make such a background, that males do not?
As for the human-vs-humanoid issue, please. Everyone knows that elves, dwarves, and others are just humans with the serial numbers rubbed off.
|
|
I was talking more about reading the player, not the character.
I guess this kind of thing gets a little under my collar; at my table, I have a Transvestite, a male Homosexual, one straight male, and three females, one of whom is Bi-sexual and the other whom is genderqueer. And I myself am Bi-sexual, making the whole gaming group pretty set deep into the GLBTQ camp. So, when someone says "You're playing a chick? That isn't appropriate," it pushes my buttons.
I was talking more about reading the player, not the character.
Personally I think it is bad group policy to make rules that single out individual players. If you are not allowing one player to gender-bend, then you shouldn't allow any players to. Saying that Pat can do it because Pat understands different viewpoints, but Chuck can't is bad game policy, IMO. Now if Chuck is that bad, perhaps you shouldn't be playing with him in the first place, instead of creating specific character generation rules to single him out.
And before anyone claims, I'm against playing opposite gender characters, I think at least half of the people in my group have played a character of an opposite gender at least once. Currently we have one woman playing a male sorcerer. I personally have no problem as a DM with it, and none of the players seem to either. Of course, we tend to not play anything very sexual, so most characters ultimately end up being pretty asexual anyway.
I just think jumping to the conclusion that because a group might put a restriction on playing opposite gender characters, that it must imply that the players are sexual confused, homophobic, sexist, or whatever, is a bit silly. There are perfectly rational reasons for putting a restriction on like that, so let's hold off of the personal demonization of people we don't personally know.
|
|
Personally I think it is bad group policy to make rules that single out individual players. If you are not allowing one player to gender-bend, then you shouldn't allow any players to.
You didn't understand. Someone using an RPG to act out their sexual fantasies? They don't get to plat AT ALL. I Kick em' right out....(after reading your post some more, I see you would do the same thing.) Everybody who is allowed to play is allowed to do whatever they want with their character's sexual identity.
There are perfectly rational reasons for putting a restriction on like that, so let's hold off of the personal demonization of people we don't personally know.
You are right about that, I would like a lot more information about this situation before I start throwing out condemnations; most people asking for help on the forums get right back to it; where is this guy's response?
You know pres man, you mentioned earlier about how male players who play female characters usually have them (the character) suffering from a history of being raped, and/or selling their bodies for profit. I've seen this as well, (and a variety of other such things), and wonder why this is?
|
|
Well, none of my female characters (or male characters, or robot characters, etc.) had any of those types of backstories, but I think I know why some of them do. (Of course, the following is NOT true about EVERYONE, but is a generalization to some thought processes. Don't want to offend.)
From the perspective of the player, putting together a character of the opposite gender means thinking through all possible avenues of role-playing. So, by creating a backstory of a character that has been traumatized sexually or selling their bodies, it frees the player to have it set in stone how the character feels about sex in the game. If they have been traumatized, it puts it on the DM and other players that the character is not a sex object, taking that aspect of the character out of the equation. Most of the characters that spoke of how they sold their bodies in the past are looking to move past that point in their life, meaning they are going to swing the opposite way and want to be taken seriously as more than the physical aspect.
It's kind of a line in the sand the player draws saying "You can treat my character as any other type of character, but don't go there" without having to actually have that discussion.
Funny side note: My female samurai earlier was fun to play because the DM of the game was very open about sex in the game (most of the other characters had a hook-up or something similar). My character didn't, mostly because she was on a mission for the emperor. But, being a good DM, he had my character's antagonist being this dashing ronin that spent most of his time flirting with my character.
You know pres man, you mentioned earlier about how male players who play female characters usually have them (the character) suffering from a history of being raped, and/or selling their bodies for profit. I've seen this as well, (and a variety of other such things), and wonder why this is?
I can think of a few reasons that contribute to the issue.
1) PCs tend to be over-traumatized in general. How many PCs with backstories do you see in a typical campaign that have some kind of traumatic or highly dramatic history? A whole lot. And rape is a disturbingly common trauma suffered by enough real people, no wonder it makes it into the backstories of plenty of female characters.
2) It feeds a certain amount of a galahad/hero complex that male gamers might have. They take the damaged goods and "redeem" them via heroic or at least ass-kicking action adventure.
3) Red Sonja.
You know pres man, you mentioned earlier about how male players who play female characters usually have them (the character) suffering from a history of being raped, and/or selling their bodies for profit. I've seen this as well, (and a variety of other such things), and wonder why this is?
Not going to speculate on why, I don't want to be that deep into another's psyche. Some male players can handle playing a female character, and some simply can't. I for one don't dwell on the situations in my games. Some occurrence of carousing comes up, and is gone with a "you're hungover, alone, and your wallet/coinpurse/credit cards are missing...but it was a blast!"
Some settings can play to this type of thing, and in the hands of a mature, experienced player, it can lead to some awesome RP. I had a Shadowrun campaign where a friend of mine played a female street mage named "Juggs", with all of the stereotypes mentioned above: figure, clothing, slutty attitude, history of rape/abuse. "Juggs" however, was a mean SOB, and god help you if you were a male NPC (or PC as one player found out) that abused the weak and downtrodden. He played the attitude to hilt, using it to gain advantages over male NPCs. More than one run in the shadows got wrecked because of this, but it was well-played.