1, I honestly can't really think of any examples at this time. I guess I just don't really think much of most particular moments in my life.
2, I am male, but the reason behind my preference of characters is not quite that simple. Throughout my childhood and adolescence, I watched a lot of various shows and movies, and after a while I began to notice a trend that all of my favorite characters from everything happen to be male. For the record, I do try my best to not come across as sexist in any way, but that trend did cause me some concern that perhaps I might be subconsciously sexist, which was obviously something that made me uncomfortable with admitting it to anyone. But some time after I watched the LBT TV series, I really did like the newly included character Ruby, and it actually took me a while to finally admit to myself that, yes, Ruby had now surpassed Littlefoot as my favorite LBT character. Acknowledging Ruby as my favorite LBT character, and then later getting interested in the shows My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and its spinoff Equestria Girls (both of which are obviously loaded with female characters), I am no longer so fearful that I might be subconsciously sexist, because now I can point out that some of my favorite characters on some shows are indeed female.