Nihal
Vala
Having been a little boy once myself, I can say there is some truth to at least half of that statement.It is interesting to me how early in life some of the things we've discussed here form in the human mind. A children's book editor once told me to change the sex of my main character from female to male, the reasoning being that little girls will read stories about boys, but little boys will not read stories about girls. I didn't make the change, but after she said that I did some looking around and found the same advice in many places.
Yes and no. Once upon a time I was a little girl. While I tolerated stories with male protagonists, it was more because I had no choice. The men got to do all the cool things in these stories and the female, when they even appeared, usually were dull or sounded fake.
It happened in games also. One of the games that "redeemed" this industry to me was Kyrandia II: The Hand of Fate, because I got to play a female. When I first played it I had a strong feeling of "At last!".
Because I tolerated those stories, it doesn't mean I was happy about it. I must admit I never got over it, even if the times are changing now.
I won't force you in a personal crusade to portray cool kickass females and ethnic diversity. However, I am selfish. I want to show the women I never got to see in my childhood, the MCs who do not have blond, straight hair and blue eyes. I don't care if some average male reader don't identify himself with the protagonist, he got a plenty of other stories - and they're good! - to read.
The other thing I want to do is to draw characters who wears more than one set of clothes (c'mon, their eternal clothes always bothered me!).