Male players can play female characters and female players can play male characters.
Those who complain about that only prove they dont understand what the term "roleplaying" even means.
Its really the very same reason why you can pick races other than human.
I played a female character, and ended up with a personality that wouldn't really have worked nearly as well as a man. Besides, there are other obvious differences between me and my character that needed roleplaying; for example I'm not 3 feet tall, and I can't cast spells.
I've only done the one playthrough so far, but in D&D in general I prefer the races that look basically human-shaped (so most of the player's handbook, not the "you can play as any monster" books. I like some variety in race aesthetics and bonuses, but most of the variety I prefer to take from changing their personality and backstory, which is something I'm slowly getting better at.
