"No Brothels to be in DA4" as per Mark Darrah Tweet.

What if they have a brothel, but you can't patronise it, and every time you go in there, you get graphic, detailed scenes and quests dealing with the abuse and exploitation of the workers?

I mean, that would presume I was under any illusion of changing his mind. 

I'm just curious about how people would react if the titillating aspect of the brothels (ie, the ability to patronize them and watch suggestive cutscenes) was removed, and the nastier aspects of the sex industry were played up. My suspicion is that a lot of people who clamored for brothel content in this very thread would decry such a depiction as "sjw feminazi propaganda".

Sex work is a multifaceted issue with a complicated history. A lot of prostitutes are victims of sex trafficking, many are even children. Even if you haven't been forced into it, it's hard and dangerous work, and once you're in it, stigma can make it very difficult to get out again. But historically it was also a way for women to gain independence in a world where few options were available to them. Brothels and the women who ran them were integral to the colonization of the American Frontier, but how many westerns do you see about brothel madams funding schools and building communities?

There's a lot of different directions BioWare could take the issue, if they really cared. Some can be grim and some can be lighthearted, but I don't think many of the players clamouring for an in-game brothel would like most of them. I don't think they would like walking into the brothel and discovering that some of the workers are 12 or younger. I don't think they would like a scene where their partner cries. They wouldn't like a brothel where the prostitutes are old, or unattractive. I don't think they'd like a scene where they get kicked out by the bouncer for being disrespectful. They probably wouldn't like a quest that deals with a woman losing her job as a teacher because someone revealed to the village that she previously worked as a prostitute. I don't think they'd like a scene where they overhear two prostitutes complaining about how the player character is gross and they don't enjoy having sex with them. Some of them probably wouldn't even be that fond of a positive depiction of prostitution, where the brothel and the women in it are regarded as an important part of the community and economy.

Most of the people asking for an in-game brothel aren't asking for in-depth examination of sex work and the people that perform it. They want the fantasy that BioWare and other developers have been peddling, of a house full of beautiful women (and in BioWare's case, men), who find the player character attractive, no matter how you designed them, and are enthusiastic about having sex.

The Brothel was an interesting part of DA2.

In addition, that you can see, that the whiny Gamlen spend his coins in the Rose, you can see Orana there, if you just let her go... It's maybe just a nuance, but still, add to the mood.

Actually, you had to pay top coin in the Blooming Rose to get access to attractive prostitutes. And it was pretty clear from talking to Zevran that the other children of prostitutes (like himself) didn't meet a very good end.

Also, teachers? Schools? Public education? What the hell kind of pseudo-medieval setting do you think we're running here? Next you'll be suggesting that the people of Thedas believe in futuristic concepts like gravity and oral hygiene.

I know there are tutors. There are numerous references in codexes to tutors. There's even a university. But these are things generally limited to the rich - the nobility, children of merchants, et cetera, et cetera.

I'm talking about a public education system that guarantees schooling for every child in Thedas regardless of class status or income. Do you think the average Orlesian or Fereldan peasant has any kind of education? Maybe if they're in the Circle or the Templar Order, or if they dedicate their lives to the Chantry.

Public education doesn't have to guarantee schooling of every child in Thedas to not be public education. Just look at Roman education, which in itself was based on Greek, or literacy rates from Islamic Golden Age or China after invention of paper. Those might not have been systems as we understand them now, but nevertheless they ensured relatively high literacy rates among population.

Literacy rose dramatically in Europe once the printing press was invented and family Bibles became a thing.  Given Varric and his books, it's pretty much a given they exist in Thedas.

So yeah, I'd say that at least basic literacy is widespread in Thedas.  Not universal, but enough that people can read the Chant of Light and thier local Chantry board.  Maybe sign their name.

Well, CDPR did hire porn actors and actresses to do the motion capture for those scenes. 17 hours worth.