[quote=@Gravity Bounce]
You can play whoever you want. Have at it. The only thing would be avoiding stereotypes. I've seen guys writing females that have hit every type of stereotype in the book. I have also seen girls do the same thing. So, you can write who you want just do some research. The same thing with doing characters of a different race or ethnicity. Do. Your. Research. Don't be lazy about it either. I myself am a Person of color as they say. There's nothing worse than seeing characters like myself be made to as a walking talking caricature when a bit of research could go a long way. Or the focus of said character is just their skin color. It's annoying. 
[/quote]

>Agreed. Unless it leads to a subversion naturally, but even then you aren't using it just to enforce a stereotype.

>Also, this applies to non-human characters too, albeit in a different way. Like maybe your demons aren't dicks but the angels are, or vice versa. Or maybe Cthulhu is just a chill alien god that wants to go on a date with you as opposed to being the not-dead/not-living priest of R'lyeh destined to bring ruin upon the world. But yes, I agree. Stereotypes are not only tired and overdone tripe characteristic of a lazy writer, but in more than a few cases they're downright harmful.