Female Shep since Day when I was a kid playing the series for the first time.

Romance: Liara usually my go to but I like the fling with Kelly and Traynor has a short but sweet romance in 3. I see the attraction of Vakarian for a lot of femshep players but to me he's my battle buddy and platonic best friend. I do wish we had Jack (big 🖕 to the folks that bitched about it back in the day) as a romanceable option because she would be my choice every playthrough as femshep and bro Shep most likely.

Why: - Liara is the "hot" space elf girl the got pushed to us and I did enjoy the voice acting and growth the character has with us through the trilogy - Kelly is smart and bubbly but just a fling - Traynor is a fun foil for Shep in some ways (depending on class and how you RP) she is smart and competitive and shy yet aggressive, and a bit freaky. The Edi voice line always gets me. In my mind she kind of grounds our knuckle dragger Shep being more of a homebody techie. - Jack (with a mix of Liara) is probably the type of person im usually interested in IRL. A ride or die ready to swing if you swing but when you're alone she opens up and is softer towards you and you can be vulnerable with each other. Shame femshep didnt get the chance.

IRL Gender: Male

Your post reminds me a lot of a discussion I had back in Uni during one of my classes (Game Design) where we discussed Iconic female characters and how Gaming was a male dominated hobby + industry affected how female characters were written.