I don't understand how people are unable to roleplay certain genders, because I feel that it's not the physical aspects of a character - such as sex - that make them who and how they are, it's their mindset.
I really really like playing all kinds of characters with tons of variety. Binary characters and genderqueer/fluid/nonbinary characters are really cool! I don't tend to rp trans characters just because that's a little personal, but I generally rp everybody on the gender-spectrum. I kinda feel like we should open the gates a little more than just restricting it to male or female.
Actually, to me, the sex of a character doesn't really specify the personality they might have. There's no restraint to the mindsets a character might have, regardless of how they identify.
Amen to all of that. Lol.
I myself tend to be gender blind. It's hard for me to understand why people think men and women are a certain way. In reality they're not. I mean, I grew up not really understanding femininity and masculinity. I see it, and I can narrow down the stereotypes, but I don't understand why the stereotypes are associated with gender and sex. I personally hate that we even have the labels of feminine and masculine on pretty much EVERYTHING. It's basically saying this or that belongs to a specific gender and sex. Really, NOTHING DOES. It irks me so much when people say "men can't" or "women can't." No. Stop. Please. You have no idea how ridiculous society looks when you can see it from the outside. Men and women are anything and everything.
The true differences any living beings have is their physical bodies and their minds. Not one being is the same, despite that their sex can be classified as male, female, and ambiguous. Sex has nothing to do with this or that, "men can't" or "women can't", "men are" or "women are". WE JUST ARE. All of us, regardless of sex.
Gender, imo, is a made up concept, despite that I identify as gender Neutrois. But the reason I identify as Neutrois is because I consider myself gender neutral/agender/androgynous. Technically, I am just who I am. But I'm using this gender label to break the binary and gender mindset as well as gender roles.
Anyway. Now to the actual topic of the thread... I haven't really cared what gender I roleplay or write in first person as. I've done male, female, and non-binary. Cis, transgender, intersex, queer, and crossdressers. In fact, my White Crow character I made a preset for is genderless. I have quite a few of those, and all of them I relate a lot to because of their mindset on gender. Otherwise, I roleplay/write as characters because I love placing myself in their mind and personality.
Honestly though, back in high school I leaned a lot towards genderqueer and ambiguous sex characters while in the process of discovering myself (also without much knowledge of the existing non-binary genders and sexes since I grew up sheltered and heavily forced into the traditional binary, but knew that what I was expected to be wasn't right for me). I went through tons of fursonas with a variety of genders. Just last year, I finally landed myself on a physically and mentally genderless one that I love to death. I have yet to roleplay with this fursona though. Now that I'm talking about this, I actually kind of feel like digging up my old fursonas and roleplaying them just because I can.
Fyi, I'm referring to gender and sex as two separate things: sex is physical while gender is mental. Just so no one is lost after reading my post. Although I don't blame you if you're still lost after understanding that. I went a bit deep into this gender thing.
And for some reason I feel the need to add a disclaimer. I have absolutely nothing against anybody here or their gender/sex preference for roleplaying. xD Lol. I'm just stating how I feel and why I don't think roleplaying as any sex is hard. In my eyes, society is just really caught up into assuming what someone is like because of their sex. But really, anyone can be anything. I've met people who break the boundaries much like myself. And I find that many people aren't 100% comfortable being when society thinks they should be. So... Don't assume and roleplay whatever you want. There is no right way to be a male, female, or non-binary.
I need to stop typing. This post of mine keeps growing lmao.