I would find it very amusing to be able to change the gender of the gear I find. This would be an option somewhere in the Personal Styles area.
This would not change the gender of my actual avatar.
Rendering would be done with the face for the avatar's gender. All other aspects of the character would be rendered with the selected gender. So if I was male but had selected female equipment types, I would have a male face on a female body, and I would get female equipment.
Assuming the characters are rendered so that the necks fit smoothly, this might not even be very difficult to implement.