[monster]

I think the genre plays a large part in those decisions, also the projected audience. I'm involved with a publishing group which concentrates primarily on literary fiction. After the interns have read the slush pile, they send the hopefuls for us to read. There currently seems to be a fashion for male authors writing from a female POV. It almost invariably doesn't work, and as the only female on the board, it's my job to sniff it out. I'm not sure if this something that stands out more to women, though, because when there is a female author portraying a male character badly, mostly the guys don't like the manusript, but can't put their finger on it. So if your audience is male, the trans-gender thing might not matter as much?

Regards the 1st/3rd person and switching... I like third the best in the main. switching and 1st are OK, but IMO much harder to get right.... many manuscripts are rejected because they try these formats and fail so badly that not even a good editor can rescue it.

But in the end, what is right for the story depends on the story. If you have a story to tell, just write it. Don't worry about the 1st/3rd person or the gender issue -switch between them all as the mood takes you. Just write. Then go back for your first rewrite see which gender and which person has the upper hand and correct to that and see it it works....