

I Am Tired of Hearing Programmers Defend Gender Essentialism - JoshTriplett
http://meloukhia.net/2014/02/i_am_tired_of_hearing_programmers_defend_gender_essentialism/

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duncan_bayne
Have a read of what the author (of the article, not JoshTriplett) has to say
about parents who refuse to cure their childrens deafness:

[http://meloukhia.net/2014/07/deafness_on_greys_anatomy_again...](http://meloukhia.net/2014/07/deafness_on_greys_anatomy_again/)

"... in an era where it’s possible for hearing loss and deafness to be treated
with implants and sophisticated technology, many people are debating whether
they should ‘cure’ deaf children ..."

"... The choice of whether to get a Cochlear implant should be in the hands of
the individual, not the hearing community. And the conversation about implants
within the D/deaf community is a complicated one that hearing people might
want to sit down and watch, rather than jumping into, because there’s a lot
more going on here than the assumption that hearing loss is a bad thing that
needs to be repaired."

My opinion: refusing a procedure to restore hearing to a deaf child for _any_
reason other than medical risk is a form of child abuse, and should lead to
criminal charges. And I'm about as far Libertarian as you get.

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marktangotango
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.

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CmonDev
"The first part of this claim is correct: it is in fact true that when it
comes to gender, English is a highly malleable language, and it doesn’t have
the gendering problems that plague some other languages."

Typical feminist rant. Why not offend a bunch of (more ancient) cultures to
express a personal opinion as if it was an ultimate truth.

"...members of gender and sexual minorities..." \- get a ridiculously
disproportionate amount of attention.

