Role Playing for Everyone
I never played any table top RPGs in high school. At the time they were seen as a male-only nerd activity and frankly I was involved in far too many of those already.
Over the years I've played a little bit of GURPS and a little Pathfinder, here and there with various groups,but I didn't start playing D&D until this year.
Decades after graduating high school, my kids introduced me to the hobby. When I mentioned that I might like to try my hand at being a DM I was astonished at how many of my friends were apparently just waiting for a chance to be players in a D&D campaign.
So now I'm a part of three D&D campaigns. I'm DM in two of them and a player (for now) in the third. And things have changed for the better in the world of D&D.
None of my groups are all male. One of them is predominantly female, one is exactly 50/50, and one is predominantly male. (Going entirely off of everyone's preferred pronouns.)
They're all awesome. I've never heard any stupid sexist comments from the male players, which means I've never had to eject anyone from my game. Everyone just treats everyone as a friend and an equal. Some of the players in my games play a character that doesn't match their real world pronouns and nobody gets uptight about that either.
I know there is still so very much to do to make gender equality a real thing. I know that the deck is still stacked so very heavily against anyone in America who isn't a white cis male. I know there are still gatekeepers in the RPG hobby who make it hideously unpleasant for non-white-cis-male people to participate. Those gatekeepers suck.
But I can't tell you how happy I am that my experience, in my little corner of the world, is free of those biases, and I hope—and believe—that there are other places where gender equality in fantasy is becoming a reality.