My character's gender and appearance is based on perhaps the most peculiar reasoning you'll ever encounter. I'm a writer and as a writer I have to develop various characters. That includes both their personality and appearance. Here's the interesting bit. I have an imagination that runs wild, however, it is rare for me to actually visualise things; most of my creations are thought in words rather than images. As a result of that fact I take the opportunity of character creation and utilise it to convert those thoughts into a visual version. It often helps me work out the finer details.