I don’t know if it’s the same stat buffs/debuffs across all the Elder Scrolls games, but the one OP was likely talking about was the Redguard race in Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (stat sheet here). And yes, it was pretty messed up.
Why are you lying? Bretons, Imperials and High Elves get a plus to magic abilities (Int, Wil), as befitting their lore of magic casters. Nords and Redguards get a plus to fighting abilities, as befitting their warrior origins.
There is more than one Elder Scrolls game... Morrowind has base attributes of 40 with different races having higher and lower values from base. Redguard in Morrowind have lower int and will than average, and compared to women male Redguard also have lower personality but higher strength.
Hey! Perks that actually (a) trigger when intended, and aren't bugged out (b) do something actually useful - are quite unusual in Fallout; there's plenty of them that are just a trap for the unwary to waste their slots on.
I'd also nominate the 'lady killer / cherchez la femme' perk as being one of those traps; the vast majority of the enemies you have to kill are male, and certainly all the ones who are difficult. It gives a few interesting dialogue options, but there's more effective perk choices.
(this is an outsider's understanding; I have not played the game myself)
There are two perks you can get in the game: "Lady Killer", which grants a charisma buff (or something like that) when talking to female characters, and also allows you to do +10% damage to female characters. "Black Widow" grants the same charisma (or whatever) when talking to male characters, and the same +10% damage to male characters. It's possible to get both of these perks at the same time.
It is my understanding that the previous game, Fallout 3, prevented anything but heteronormative interactions ie to romance a female NPC the player had to choose a male character, etc. To quote hbomberguy, "It implies that Bethesda doesn't think gay people exist." By contrast, New Vegas allows any character to take either of the above perks, or both at the same time, allowing one to roleplay as a gay or bisexual character to an admittedly tiny degree.