Yes there is a double standard about behavior towards women by male politicians

[dsc]

but that is at least as much driven by our voters than anything else. Women, particularly young women, have made it clear they are fed up with people feeling entitled to invade their personal space in work and work like settings. They mostly vote for our party. Biden came of political age in a different era. The behavior he has engaged in wasn't frowned upon then but it is now. He is over 70, he isn't going to change his behavior most likely. Younger women are tired of this behavior. Honestly, I don't particularly blame them. I wouldn't dream of kissing the head of some random guy. I wouldn't rub some random guy's shoulders. I don't see having the standard be you don't touch people until you have their permission to do so is such a hard standard to abide by. Many times politicians and others live past the point during which the things they do remain OK. This is one of those times. It is no longer OK to invade the personal space of random women. I am not sure why it ever was OK but it isn't now.

[shanny]

1. Amen.

[WeekiWater]

2. K&R NT

[Delmette2.0]

3. Exactly!

If you don't behave the same to both men and women then you have a problem. That is basically part of the equality women have been fighting for, for over 100 years.

[zipplewrath]

4. It's not that your wrong

But I'm not much of a hugger, and yet women hug me all the time, even women I only met an hour or so ago. It's not that I'm complaining, but I am often surprised by it. Especially by women that give the kind of hug that seems to figure out just how little contact they can achieve. It is a double standard and I don't know what can be done about it. Women have been abused for way too long and their "fighting" back now. And I'm far more concerned about them right now.

[dsc]

5. I am male

If I did that stuff to a man I would likely get clocked.

[Eko]

8. One of my female employees hugged me.

On her last day of work, surprised me a good amount.

[hlthe2b]

6. If we don't draw a line, though, we may make problem of gender inequality (esp in workplace) worse

I worked in S. Arabia, Egypt and Jordan for quite some time, during which all but the most westernized men REFUSED to shake my hand, much less meet with me one-on-one. So, I do know the extremes of the Mike Pence fundamentalist dream for our futures.

I don't want to see our society devolve into one where someone's well-meaning intent to comfort or celebrate or reassure with a totally non-sexual pat of the shoulder or offer of a hug becomes an issue. If one is uncomfortable with any close contact whatsoever (which is clearly the case for many on the autism spectrum and others) then I think one can make colleagues aware of that in a polite way.

That said, to mistake such contact as a cudgel to use for publicity years later or to intentionally harm the person involved (and who was never made aware of the issue) is unconscionable IMO.

Define your space and let others know your boundaries. However, conflating such incidents with actual nonconsensual inappropriate contact that rises to the level of sexual harassment (especially where power differential is present) or even full-on sexual assault and thus the crux of the "me too" movement is soooo wrong, I hardly know where to begin.

[Trenzalore]

7. Which would be great if there wasn't a photo of her with her hands on his shoulders the same day