I sort of agree for the most part. But the objectification of women is more than "just an asthetic with no malice behind it" for the most part.

[CW: dysphoric rant]

Coming from someone who only pretty recently came out as non-binary and grew up socialised as female, if you even had the choice of a female character at all (I grew up in the late 90s/early 2000s), it would be made for the male gaze, often in a dehumanising way.

This was the only type of avatar for girls. If you picked the female character choice, you were constantly reminded that this is for men, not you. That this is what men want from you, to be debased for their amusement. Nothing about you matters. You are a product for males to use and throw away, and if you don't look like a sex doll (regardless of you want to look like that or not, because your body isn't for you and everyone just assumes that what cis dudes find attractive is objective) then it must be because you are 'ugly' and therefore bad at being a woman, because that is your place, your role, and if you don't like it then it's a skill issue on your part. Too bad.

The female characters often were unappealing to me. I simply couldn't relate to them. It's to the point that often I would choose the male option to avoid being reminded of my "place".

That's not just because I'm non-binary. I know a lot of cis women will choose the male option for that reason too.

Sorry for the weird rant, it's not directed specifically at you (you're not even wrong). I just feel that too often people in general, even the left, forget the baggage that comes with female objectification, and that it's something that has been used to dehumanise girls and women and shame them into not looking how they want.