Equality vs Realism

Without a doubt, my preferred model for an RPG setting is what I term the "Battlestar model" - a setting where nobody even asks, "can a woman really be a starfighter pilot?" because the answer is so evidently yes. I call it the Battlestar model because that show is probably the best, and most successful, example of it at work, but it's obviously not the only one - and in particular, Firefly is another good example.

(Incidentally, one of the consequences of the Battlestar model is that the equality flows both ways. In BSG, there's an occasion where Apollo and Starbuck settle their differences in the boxing ring, and there's simply no question that Apollo wouldn't hit Starbuck (a woman) - he respects her as an equal with all that that entails. In the Firefly, or actually Serenity, context, it's funny that Jayne gets beaten up by "a girl" because River is both young and tiny, not because she's female - there's little doubt that Zoe could kick his ass, after all! But that's all an aside, and probably not a terribly well expressed one.)

Unfortunately, while the Battlestar model is great for sci-fi, science fantasy, and space opera settings, it's rather less ideal for fantasy settings, or at least those with a pseudo-historical basis.

Consider for a moment a Pirates! campaign. Now, it is of course true that there are examples of notable female pirates and there were no doubt some women who disguised themselves as men and served on board ships. But these were very much exceptional cases.

If you instead posit a BSG-model world here, you immediately run into some awkward questions: where do people sleep? What toilet facilities do they use? And, indeed, what about contraception, pregnancy, and so forth?

I don't think there is necessarily any 'right' answer to any of these questions, nor indeed do I think they represent any fundamental bar on the use of that model in that setting. But the answers to those questions probably do change the nature of the setting - and beyond a certain point, you start to lose the versimilitude that such a setting probably depends on.

(Pathfinder, for what it's worth, deals with these questions by the expedient of totally ignoring them. Which is valid, I guess, but something I found rather weak - especially when reading the two "Pirate's..." novels after reading the Aubrey/Maturin series.)

But the Pirates! issue is only the easiest place to spot the problem, since that's an environment where you have lots of men (only) pressed together in a small space for long periods of time. If you instead look at a pseudo-historical setting with the various ranks of royalty and nobility, once you dig in a little it becomes very apparent that marriage and heredity are very important to how power was accumulated and passed on. But that's quite at odds with the Battlestar model where anyone can be and do anything.

Again, these issues aren't insurmountable. But from a world-building perspective, they're somewhat vexing. Especially since versimilitude is very important in the game - if it doesn't 'feel' true (even if it actually is true!) then it doesn't work.

I don't really have any conclusion to draw here. It's just something I've been musing on for the "Under the Wheel" setting, where I'm trying to both have a pretty egalitarian setting (with, in particular, a lack of formal noble titles and the like) while at the same time keeping a somewhat realistic-ish setting. I'm not sure those two rub along together very well... unless I ditch any pseudo-historical connections.