I don't know how I feel about En World opening up to political discussions in the RP forums, I think those kinds of discussions can generate emnity on message boards sometimes....but since its being discussed, might as well put in my two cents. I feel like fantasy settings are just that: fantasy. They ought to be whatever people at the table are comfortable with and desire. If that means modern social sensibilities, why not? If it means having real world -isms exist in tbe setting, maybe even as dominant ways of thinking, i upthink its fine if everyone is okay with it. I would make a distinction between a setting that is sexist (Duke Vendar scoffs at the notion of a female knight) versus a system that is sexist (the designers flatly forbid female fighters or something). I think its okay to include some of these elements for background if everyone is fine with it (i have had women at the table who wanted to play in a setting where equality is the rule, but i have also had women who wanted to play a female character who breaks through the sexist assumptions of the surrounding culture). I think the key is to realize this is one of those touchy areas and requires a lot more attention from the GM than less controversial elements.
its also helpful to remember fantasy isnt the only kind of rpg. I play quite a few historical games and you run into an interesting problem with those when it comes to sexism-racism. Some people dobt want to encounter the historical prejudices and injustices in a game set in the past (and that is pefectly reasonable) but others get just as offended by the idea of glossing over those details (and that is also perfectly reasonable). A WWII game set in Germany that completely ignores the holocaust is going to be a problem for some people. A game set in colonial America that acts as if slavery never happened is going to be an insult to others.
I made a Roman game a while back and one of our historical advisers was a feminist writer. My initial instinct was to just ignore the issue of women and the limitations placed on them by romn society, but she felt this ignored historical realities that were important and ignored key aspects of Roman literature from the time. So she convinced me to address and deal with it in the game. I made a note that people should do whatever they want, and feel free to ifnore the restrictions, but included them because she convinced me it might be just as bad for me to not even address the issue. I still don't know if it was the right call or not, but I think this is sometimes more complicated and less black and white than folks make it out to be.
