I happen to think that rape, sexism, racism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia and the like make for great storytelling — this coming from someone frequently derided as a SJW — so I tend not to understand why anyone would want to exclude these themes from their story where they should realistically apply.
If you're building a medieval fantasy world like Middle Earth, then these themes aren't massively necessary. This is an elegant solution if you want to create a setting where these issues don't exist.
If you're specifically setting something in Victorian London or 1940s New Orleans or something, though, I think you should include the relevant themes of political/identity conflicts. Otherwise, what's the point of setting something in these eras to begin with? Just to have the glitzy glamour/vintage/retro style while sweeping the baggage under the rug? I think, if you were trying to be 'sensitive', that's more insulting than being explicit about issues of the era.
Where it leads to issues of marginalising certain players and their preferred archetype (e.g., saying no women who are more than x), it's the responsibility of the game-designer to create a reasonable loophole, or perhaps just choose a different setting. For example, instead of setting a Noir somewhere white and affluent, set it in New Orleans, where women of colour can play pivotal roles 'behind the scenes' as voodoo medicine-women or jazz musicians, despite the social climate of the country they live in. If you have a Victorian London sci-fi setting, invent some kind of secret society that operates out of the London Underground, and in which women can be badass and gay men make out or whatever. You get the picture.
(Coincidentally, I'm currently working on a Noir project set in New Orleans, so this is very much on my mind.)
