Hmmm, I seem to have been in one of my two long periods of absentia at the time this thread was active. I would have liked to have participated in it.
If I may add a small, speculative suggestion to this thread, since there doesn't seem to be much left in it; remember that Sauron himself was male, in mind and spirit. The power it subsisted upon, was created with and was driven by was his, and therefore would have probably principally attracted/interested those in some way similar to himself to it -- mainly the powerful and the Wise -- as it was Sauron, obviously himself a figure like himself, who concieved of, used and desired the Ring in the first place.
Of course, by similar I do not mean bent on world domination and the spreading of corruption and evil. What I mean is powerful, grim, confident able to be self-counselled, and plan. Obviously Smeagol was not powerful, but he was the latters.
What I am driving at, in conclusion, is that this type of figure is in fact more likely to be male than female.
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