Does anyone really care whether their character is male or female? Obviously not in the case where there is a choice, but if you were forced into being a character of the opposite sex would that bother you?
No, but I would much prefer to play with a male character... get all kinds of losers i.e 40+ guys, in mmo's who decide to go for a female character and actually try to act all female with their (Hey hun, and hehe instead of lol) fucking douche's.
If I'm forced to have a female character then I'm going to make sure to give her a name like PeriodFree.