Visions of degeneracy

Previous research on discourses of gender, sexuality and race in role-playing games (RPGs) finds that they favour a white, heterosexual, cis-male perspective, (re)producing stereotypes that are misogynist, homophobic and racist. This article uses feminist critical discourse analysis to examine a game with a reputation for challenging conventions of the genre and the medium, the fantasy RPG Exalted (2001–). An analysis of 31 sourcebooks shows how many of the harmful discourses present in wider geek culture are interwoven with progressive ideas in the second edition of Exalted. Specifically, women’s roles are limited to those of virgin, (monstrous) mother or ‘prostitute’; sexual ‘deviance’ is pathologised; and a colonial geopolitics of race, sex and gender is reproduced. Given the importance of gaming culture to contemporary popular culture and politics, the study advocates for ethnographic engagement with actual gameplay to supplement feminist analysis of RPG sourcebooks.