I have trouble understanding people who call out market research as sexism. The author is complaining about the selection of video games that Amazon has listed as recommendations for mother’s day gifts. She points out that the games are mostly exercise or simulations (in the sense of simulating cooking, simulating raising a family, etc.), and that they are primarily games for the Nintendo DS or the Wii.

Amazon is a multi billion dollar company. Their core business is tracking demographics and doing predictive analysis on what each demographic will likely purchase. If Amazon is recommending cooking games to mothers, it seems to me that the conclusion “Mothers are more likely to buy cooking video games than other types of video games” is far more likely than “Amazon intentionally propagating sexist stereotypes against women.”

To imagine that there is some upper level management in Amazon who wants his or her personal views and biases about the role of women’s society to override the secret formula that has made them billionaires is about as absurd to me as the idea that there is some upper level management in McDonalds who will use his or her personal views on animal cruelty to strike all non-vegan items from the menu.