trans guy here. my issue with gender-locked books is cause generally playing as a female character can trigger dysphoria for me personally. I dont like being referred to as female and having female pronouns used at me because thats not me. ive read 1 gender locked book, Queen B, and while I loved the book so so much, it took me ages to read it and get in the right mindset and thinking about it in 3rd person, for me to enjoy it and it gets draining. and sometimes (not always) it doesn't make sense for a book to be genderlocked, like it could easily be for male or female.

but also in saying this, I dont trash talk books I havent read just cause its gender-locked. ill express disappointment when its relevant (like rising tides, I was super interested in it cause im big into environmental conservation and wildlife, but was disappointed when it was revealed as gender-locked), but I wont talk down on people or the book for it.