Here's how I've always looked at it: I insert pieces of my life into my characters. Male, female - it doesn't matter. That's how I've always created my character. I use pieces of my life either as a building block for characters I create or as inspiration. Same for tropes. I use them as stepping stones. Sure it is easier to write female characters because that's a perspective a lot of writers (rpers, authors - you name it) like to toy with regardless of their biological gender. Everyone likes confident, badass heroines in their stories. SOmetimes there's a bias and sometimes it's nuanced, but at the end of the day, whether you're a man writing as a woman or a woman writing for as a man, there's nothing wrong with that.

I can certainly tell you I've never run into [i]anyone[/i] having any problems with me writing for my opposite gender (I'm cismale for those curious). Sometimes people didn't like my writing style or the characters I made, but that's not really the point of this thread. I've never had to explain why I do it, but for the sake of conversation, I don't have a reason why other than sometimes I have ideas and I try and execute them the best I can. In my 14+ years of writing for fun (including roleplaying), I have never needed a reason past that.