TABLETOPLESS 🔞 ADULT meets RPG

Maybe I've had a singularly weird experience, but in that experience, women in TTRPGs have often revelled in the sexuality of their characters. I think it's a form of power fantasy for them. TTRPGs were overwhelmingly (but not exclusively) a male pastime up until the 90s. What brought the influx? Vampire and WoD. What characterised that? More emotional and romantic stories and plotlines, Salon LARPs and a more overt integration of sexuality, including queer and kink.* Then we can look at the current trend/glut of romantasy, monster-fucking, etc outside of game publishing, all female-targeted and female-oriented. So it's clearly still the case that sexuality is a draw for women in the broader fictional space. Yet we are subjected to constant puritanical censure by people calling themselves progressive, while acting very conservative. Even without much in the way of 'Emma Peel' to get men's blood pumping. These two things seem weirdly at odds. Looking at the Azure Bonds thing, the way @Aella_Girl gets treated and a few other things lately, I'm just put in mind of the women I've known who use fantasy as a safe place to explore their sexuality, how all this denies their existence, and how anti-progressive that is. All that without even getting into the demonisation of male sexuality. I particularly reflect on a lass I knew who psychologically dealt with her own rape and sexual assault through fanfic and roleplay of sexually aggressive female characters, reclaiming her sexuality in that way. The GM is not a therapist, but fantasy can definitely help you work through stuff and reclaim your sexuality for yourself. She'd be demonised and hated for using it in that way. Being adjacent to the adult industry through @tabletoplessorg I'm also seeing how much more difficult adult work is getting, cutting people (mostly women and sexual minorities) off from perfectly legal income and opportunity. Shit sucks, yo. I thought the backlash against the conservative anti-sex mindset had begun? *Notably as transgression, not as 'normal' per se.