Ulorian - Agent of Chaos
Legend
This is a good and natural tangent from @beancounter 's initial response. Bowdlerising... lol. That is a perfect one word summary of this thread.D&D is a game that both kids and adults play. (Kinda amazing really.)
Trying to coordinate the needs of the two age groups has always been an awkward challenge for D&D designers. 2e is notorious for its bowdlerizing content.
Is there a pendulum swinging between "mature" and "safe"?
To me, sanitising is wrong. I think that folks should make their own decisions about what's within their comfort level. And not transfer their own personal comfort level to others! If you like something, embrace it. If you don't, ignore it. I think the conflict, though, comes from the worry that the ignoring of other viewpoints could lead to those viewpoints somehow causing havoc in their lives. I am not on board with this. These sorts of lifestyle issues... they don't carry over. Nothing will change for (anonymous) you if some other person does things in a way preferable to them.