A Washington Post article published recently details the relationship between Vice President Mike Pence and his wife, Karen. In the article, a 2002 interview was cited where the Vice President noted that he doesn’t eat meals alone with any woman other than his wife, and he doesn’t go to events where there is alcohol without her being there.
First, let me say that I have only the utmost respect for the Vice President and truly admire the attention and care he gives to maintaining the strength of his marriage. However, his unwillingness to associate with women in more personal settings for fear of adulterous behaviors underscores a much more abysmal truth about how he views women.
The fact that the VP won't share a meal with a female because he fears it may be damaging to his marriage supports the idea that he views women as sexual beings first and foremost, with the inability to see past this extreme fallacy. His reluctance to engage with women on a more personal level could be potentially damaging to young female professionals seeking career advice and counsel from the VP, not to mention career stifling for those women in his midst.
When I seek career advice from a male friend, colleague, professor, or other figures who can lend me guidance, I do so under purely professional pretenses, with my sexuality nowhere near the conversation. The fact that the VP assumes that I may seek such guidance with the inability to put my sexuality on the back-burner is frankly insulting and blatantly sexist.
Just this past week, the VP sat in a room full of men, with not one woman in sight, to discuss healthcare reform as it pertains to women's health. I don't know about you, but the last time I tried to explain the complexities of the female anatomy to a male who had none, it didn't go over so well. So, what makes a room full of men think they have the knowledge and understanding to dictate our health practices? Perhaps it stems from the fear that including us in the conversation might be damaging to their marriages, or worse, that we may, by just trying to be a part of the conversation, be so overcome by our sexuality that we tempt them into lewd and disloyal behaviors.
The ridiculousness of that scenario cannot be downplayed, so to the VP, I say, what gives? Why is my anatomy a barrier to your marriage, and what in the world did I do to make you think that by sharing a meal with you, I have the intentions of tempting you to commit adultery. While I have respect for the loyalty that Vice President Pence clearly has toward his wife, I have none for the notion that I am simply an object of distraction and wanton behaviors.
