When I played WoW, there were several guys in my guild who played female characters. They were all the most misogynistic gamer chuds I've ever met, who routinely objectified not only their own character but also the IRL cis women who played the game. On that note: almost every IRL cis woman I knew played male characters to avoid the attention from said gamer chuds.
I do get that some people use this as an avenue of gender exploration and maybe some of the people I met were so deep in denial that they hid behind toxic masculinity, but I think most of it was actually just toxic masculinity.
My face is too good looking to be eaten by the face eating leopards!