Which is awful! A founder should not have to send a "white, attractive male" because she is female and investors refuse to take her seriously. The culture clearly needs to change.
It may be philosophically objectionable and morally frustrating, but if it's the current reality, you can work with that and increase your chance of succeeding or focus primarily on working against it, rather than on your business.
Completely agree that it should change to be gender blind, of course.
I thought the same thing - just pay someone to be the face. I don't think it is all that different to a celebrity endorsement...