Gender/Racial/Other Bias in RPG Texts

[S'mon]

As John has given me the go-ahead, I'll try to drag this discussion away from the political/social soapbox it is drifting towards and back onto the topic of RPGs (Gareth and S'mon, would you please take the poli-sci argument to a more appropriate venue?).

(snip)

The problem isn't them: it's the people who say, "I have no problem with those people, they're fine with me, in fact they make such nice music (because those people have a good sense of rhythm, the same way they're all good at basketball), but I sure wouldn't want one dating my sister."

Now, see, here we disagree. That IS intentional racism in my book -- it is intentional discrimination against a real group for real purposes that is causing harm to that group. It may not be physical harm, or emotional harm to a specific individual, but creating and acting according to a false, negative perception thereof.

It doesn't matter that the speaker doesn't consider it "racist" (few racists consider their remarks racist, anyway), the content and intention of the behavior is clearly discriminatory based on illogical/irrational premises, and is designed to segregate society and individuals based on those factors.

(snip)

Any insights?

Er, how about you just said exactly what I was saying, only apparently when I say it it's an "inappropriate poli-sci argument"?

Re dark elves/drow - I'm quite confident Gygax was not being intentionlly racist & sexist.  I'm not absolutely certain with Lucas' Nemoidans & Gungans, they seemed so blatant (esp the Nemoidans), but I'll take his word for it.

I'm not sure whether the general trend of the discourse here is advocating self-censorship in the Politically Correct sense - ie that authors should consider whether someone might take their black-skinned evil lesbian dominatrix elves to be racist/sexist/homophobic, so the author should stick to white-skinned evil heterosexual male villains only.  To me that would be undesirable.  I think it's good to play with stereotypes and expectations - like Vance's Dying Earth story where Cudgel meets the ugly tusk-mouthed men  who turn out to be 'good' and the beautiful blond fair-skinned men are 'evil'.  This shouldn't be allowed to become a new stereotype either though - "all orcs are noble and good".  Complex and surprising fantasy societies are almost always more interesting.

[Green]

So, when a conscientious writer sits down to create an interesting fictional setting and situation, how can he be expected to keep his creative freedom in light of the possibility/threat of discrimination? (ala the Nemoidians in SW:tPM; the dark elves in D&D; etc.) Especially considering how destructive such (perceived) discrimination can be to the actual value (and intent) of the work? . . .

Speaking as someone on the demographic fringe of a fringe activity, I think a lot of these questions can be answered by the writer asking whether the conceptual and thematic elements of the setting can be best served by presenting it in a particular way.  For instance, in many fantasy games, the default cultural model is pseudo-medieval Europe, yet the themes and concepts behind those games do not make this necessary in the least.  It's just more familiar.  Doing things a certain way only for the sake of familiarity does little to solve the problem.  So, for the conscientious writer, I would say that's the first thing that should be dealt with.  As yourself, "Am I doing this because it is really what this setting is about, or because it is familiar and comfortable?"  If it's the latter, I'd say it's time to go back to the drawing board.

The good thing about this question is that you can apply it to every aspect of the setting.  Geography, history, cultures, even supernatural creatures.  For instance, fantasy settings consistently portray elves as the "über white people."  It doesn't take much to go from the assumption that northern Europe is the only place to find a race of inherently beautiful, regal, magical creatures to the idea that northern Europe is the source of these things.  Why not go beyond that?  Is there something about the idea of inhuman grace, beauty, and power that makes it necessary to portray elves as fair-skinned, light-haired, and light-eyed?

Fantasy is not the only genre that can benefit from a little bit of this kind of questioning.  Let's take the vampire mythos.  Vampires are pretty much universal, yet you consistently see vampirism presented romantically, often basing it on the appeal of the goth aesthetic.  In fact, I would go so far as to say that the vampire is frequently portrayed (in most media) as a gothic concept rather than a global phenomenon.  Unfortunately, the games that present vampires as a particularly goth aesthetic do not say this.  Instead, they portray it as universal and human, but the application and appeal is so limited that it can be easily written off as "white people [censored]" rather than something that has relevance to everyone.  Even if the goth aesthetic is the focus of a writer's concept of vampires, it would be good to ask if there is something about the goth subculture that necessitates it being based in WASP sensibilities (even as a way of deviating from them) or if there are elements in other cultures that can be adapted to the goth aesthetic or explored from a goth mindset.

As far as not hampering creative freedom, I am afraid there is little to be done about that.  On the one hand, I can see from the artist's perspective that you do not want outside factors influencing your decisions as you create.  On the other hand, I sometimes feel that if inspiration is that difficult, if you find it so hard to think outside the mold, then perhaps your idea needs to stay on the shelf until you are ready to go beyond your comfort zones.

I've talked about this to an extent here, but that sort of derailed.  However, it has ideas I still feel are worthwhile and relevant to your concerns.

[Doctor Xero]

in many fantasy games, the default cultural model is pseudo-medieval Europe, yet the themes and concepts behind those games do not make this necessary in the least.  It's just more familiar.  Doing things a certain way only for the sake of familiarity does little to solve the problem.

I agree with you overall on this, Green.  I'd just like to add another reason many people will default to Anglo-European cultures in fantasy works and such : in our politically-charged modern U.S. culture, Anglo-European cultures are a sanctuary from spurious charges of racism or political correctness (I'm not referencing legitimate charges of racism or political correctness, only the spurious ones).

(In my very personal opinion, one of the things which has hindered our efforts to end racism is that some less-than-ethical people have appropriated the term for politically-motivated witch trials, in the process diminishing the term 'racist' by making it appear to be a political smearing rather than a legitimate term for a type of bigot.  Soon enough, actual bigots don't care about the term as much while genuinely innocent people fear the smear tactic power of the term.)

To illustrate by example : a modern writer writes a story in which an aggressive culture attacks the protagonist's culture.  If the aggressive culture is darker-skinned and the heroine's culture is lighter-skinned, the writer is accused of being a racist.  If the aggressive culture is lighter-skinned and the heroine's culture is darker-skinned, the writer is dismissed as being politically correct.  If the aggressive culture and the heroine's culture are both darker-skinned and the writer herself is lighter-skinned, the writer is accused of appropriating exploitatively another culture.  So the safest move for a modern writer afraid of taboo labeling is to make both cultures lighter-skinned, because no one seems to care what a person writes about lighter-skinned cultures these days.

(This is why I personally think that cultural activism, while slower, will ultimately be more effective than legislative solutions at ending racism once and for all once basic civil rights are fully established.)

Doctor Xero

[Doctor Xero]

An additional thought to add to the melange in this thread :

I recall reading a study involving behavioral patterns as the result of child abuse by an alcoholic/drug-using mother or father.  A group of researchers discovered that a number of children exhibited all the behavioral traits of victims of child abuse even though thorough investigation made it clear that these children had not experienced child abuse.  Researchers then made case studies of the children and their families, and they learned something which has seriously increased the complexity of child abuse family studies.

In a number of cases, the child in question had not experienced child abuse, nor had either of the child's parents, but one of the child's grandparents ~had~.  The grandparent in question had been traumatized enough that she or he had role modeled the behavior of a victim of child abuse for his or her offspring, who had then passed it on to the child in question through similar role modeling.  Thus, even though the children had never experienced child abuse, they reacted with all the fearfulness and wariness and anxiety of victims of child abuse because this was the normative behavior they'd learned from their parents who had learned it from their grandparents who had developed it in response to child abuse trauma!

In the same way, a child or grandchild of a victim of racism may very well react as a victim of racism even if she or he has not personally experienced it, and this can be true for entire communities as well as for individuals -- a factor with serious implications for how we need to address the tragedies of historic racism as well as current racism!

In the same way, a child or grandchild of a bigot may very well pick up subtle or hidden racist behaviors even if she or he is not a racist on any conscious or emotional level, also true for entire communities as well as individuals.

How might this influence RPGs?

I recall one RPG I ran which dealt with racism (though that had not been my conscious intention -- I was simply trying to run a good campaign!) as the protagonists uncovered the historic roots of the traditional enmity of two game-world cultures and were able to end the racist enmity by making it clear to both cultures how they were still reacting to long-irrelevant historical circumstances.  (Having the majority of the racism end so quickly was a little unrealistic but made for a nice ending to the campaign.)

Doctor Xero

[Thuringwaethiel]

Regarding the "evil black matriarchal lesbian dominatrix elves".. Guess what is my problem with this? The "evil". Why there has to be "evil"? What does it even mean? Why to label a group, even an individual as "evil"? It's not realistic, it does not help telling a story I'd like, but it does promote chauvinism (original, broad term), black'n'white worldview and 'better-than-thou' attitude.

So, I'm bugged by the evil black matriarchal lesbian dominatrix elves. I'm also bugged by the evil green polygamous cannibal orcs. I'm also bugged by the evil white partiarchal straight human males. Notice the common nominator.

Of course, I'm more bugged by the drow issue than the orc issue, because though I'm not black, much less an elf, other aspects make it personal. But the baseline problem is labeling some things good and others bad, without any logic whatsoever. Why drows are evil? They just are. Why orcs? Designer felt like it. Why the need of evilness? To have something to kill without moral problems? And that is a good thing to do?

And continuing the rant, why are all individuals of a given group alike? Not realistic either, and makes incredibly boring story material. Diversity, people! You can state the dwarven culture values gold over all. Ok, but I want to see also dwarves that are generous, and dwarves who have sworn the oath of poverty. Orcs are violent and vengeful? Ok, but I want the reasoning behind it, and few pacifists. Hobbits are peaceful and jolly culinarists? Fair enough, but not without a suicidal alcoholic halfling assassin. Elves are prone to beauty and harmony? Ok, but I want my warmongering psycho noldor. (Wait, I have them..)

And most cultures are heavily male-dominated? Let them be, but show me also strong females and people crossing boundaries. Yes, I want a couple of high-ranking males in a mathriarchal system, too. And I don't want the "all X are A and no A is Y". It can be a common belief in a particular gameworld, but it shouldn't be the truth in the system.

Preaching? You bet. I want better RPG's (who doesn't?). And, if it is possible to "make world a better place" with RPG's (even however small part of it), I'm all for that, too.

Um, bunny distraction.. You've gotta deal with my chaotic text as it is.

[Bankuei]

Hi Raven,

There are no definite answers to your question.  There is no PC guide that will tell you what is too far.  What you can do, is simply be conscious of what you are putting forth(which is what authors/artists of any sort should be doing along with the unconscious flow to their work).  

As far fantasy races being interpreted as real races, it mostly comes about through 2 things:
1- Absence of an ethnic group
2- Fantasy race which falls into much of real world stereotypes of said ethnic group

While we can always retreat to the notion that "it's all fantasy" the simple fact is, with any form of art, you are making a statement to real people.  

The issues folks had with Phantom Menace was seeing the stereotypes they deal with on a daily basis transferred on screen with the attitude of, "See, they're lying, greedy bastards, and the best thing to do is blow them up!", which may be an exaggeration, but consider if LOTR orcs all spoke in ebonics or spanish, and you'd get a good idea of what people are pointing to.

I'd say this whole issue regarding fantasy races is really empty.  The racial bias issues I have witnessed as a source of contention throughout my gaming experience has been the treatment of the actual ethnicities in the various books, ranging from mistreatment of culture(African=voodoo, Chinese=kung fu), to the complete absence.  Orcs, drow, whathaveyou, hardly mattered in the fact of what we people of color were being portrayed as.

Chris

[Librisia]

I've posted my revised hypothesis on Male Dominance in RPGs

Cheers,
Krista