In a story about Karen Pence, the wife of the Vice President, the Washington Post‘s Ashley Parker recalled a particular detail that’s not surprising for those familiar with evangelical Christianity but probably sounds downright bizarre to everyone else.

In 2002, Mike Pence told the Hill that he never eats alone with a woman other than his wife and that he won’t attend events featuring alcohol without her by his side, either.

You would think a man with some self control could eat food with another woman (or be in the presence of alcohol) without believing it’s a violation of a sacred bond or a lead-in to that… but whatever. It’s his decision. It doesn’t affect me one way or another. There are plenty of similar stories in evangelical circles of Christian men not getting into cars with women by themselves out of fear of… who the hell knows what.

Maybe they could stop treating women as sexual objects.

Maybe they could stop assuming every woman they meet wants to sleep with them.

But there’s a difference between Mike Pence, the citizen, refusing to meet with women alone… and Mike Pence, the Vice President, doing the same thing.

If Pence won’t meet with other women alone, that’s all the more incentive not to appoint women to positions where he might have to have private conversations with them. As writer Jill Filipovic said so well,

Powerful men who will meet one on one with men but not women hurt women's careers. That is not moral or normal. — Jill Filipovic (@JillFilipovic) March 30, 2017

You would think a marriage centered around trust and mutual respect could handle the husband being in professional company of other women without sex entering the picture… but no one in this administration seems capable of doing even the simplest things.

If you want to have some fun, read all the fantastic snarky responses to Christian writer Matt Walsh‘s tweet…

Seriously what's the appropriate reason for a married person to go out for a meal alone with a member of the other sex (outside of family)? — Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) March 30, 2017

… and then enjoy the responses to Jezebel’s simple question: “Have you ever dined with a member of the gender you are romantically interested in who was not your spouse? If so, did you fuck them?”

(Image via Shutterstock)



