The author rants against what she calls 'mainstream programmers' including gender selection in online forms. Apparently requiring users to declare their gender

The author rants against what she calls 'mainstream programmers' including gender selection in online forms. Apparently requiring users to declare their gender is 'gender essentialism'. It appears in his world view, free online services are provided gratis to the user, and the provider should garner no benefit, such as that gained from targeting ads based on demographics. As a mainstream programmer (whatever that is), I'm seldom the decision maker when it comes to the whether to query the users gender. The authors would be better served by ranting against businesses and product owners who make these decisions. Maybe even the business model itself.