In reply to Bastian.

There’s no doubt in my mind that if these weren’t prominent, well-known people in the WordPress and SEO community, everyone would be condemning it for being “creepy” and sexist. The SEOktoberFest videos were from 2011, eight years ago, not ten, and the Playmates were advertised as a “perk” up until 2013! That’s roughly five and half years ago.

It would be one thing if this was about a CEO in a private company, but this is now about a person who has been given a leadership position in the WordPress project. What’s next? Playmates as a perk at WordCamps? The sexual banter tweets, although “consentual” are in extremely poor taste. I have female friends, and the thought is inconceivable that I would tweet how sexy they would look pregnant, or how I would love to steal them from their boyfriend. That is not just “friendly banter”.

I know the bear for leadership has been lowered over the last two years considerably, but let’s hold the WordPress project to a higher standard. There shouldn’t be one set of standards for the “WordPress celebrities” and another set of standards for everyone else.

#boysWillBeBoys /s