Pence Won’t Have Dinner With A Woman Who Isn’t His Wife

[DavidB.]

This is not my business but Mike Pence and his wife's. If they feel this works best for them, who am I to say they should behave differently? Edit: So yeah, what Ebowed said.

A married man should not be having dinner with another woman, unless that other woman is his sister, daughter, mother, or grand mother, you get the picture.

...

[DavidB.]

I just had some drinks in the city with a longtime female friend who is engaged to a male friend of mine. Would be pretty sad and unnecessary if I couldn't hang out with her anymore after her marriage without her soon-to-be husband being there too. I'd say that if you don't trust each other you shouldn't marry in the first place.

[DavidB.]

I just had some drinks in the city with a longtime female friend who is engaged to a male friend of mine. Would be pretty sad and unnecessary if I couldn't hang out with her anymore after her marriage without her soon-to-be husband being there too. I'd say that if you don't trust each other you shouldn't marry in the first place.

I don't personally think the blanket rule that Pence has is necessary, but it's not my place to judge what works for them.  But, there is something to be said for getting lunch or dinner with someone of the opposite sex (in a social context) at least conveying the question of "is this a date" unless you are both clear otherwise.  It's better to just be clear about these things so no one is misled.

Oh, I agree. It's absolutely fine for a couple to use this as a "rule" if they both feel more comfortable in doing so, that's their business. I also think that if a married woman does meet up with another guy it should be clear that it's not a date. But I personally wouldn't want to be in a relationship like that, where partners can't hang out with others of the sex they are attracted to on a one-on-one basis. Perhaps that's my secular, progressive upbringing in the Netherlands talking.

[DavidB.]

Interesting discussion on the political/cultural divide here, by the way. Unfortunately lots of strawmen in David French's article. Not every person who thinks it's okay for men to hang out with female friends is someone who thinks gender is just a social construction, is on the left, or is an atheist.