Narrator: But it was not as simple as that. The #1 reason I have followed some version of the BG rule is that I never wanted to put any woman in a situation where she could feel potentially uncomfortable; wherein she is alone with someone in a position of authority over her https://twitter.com/TimAAmor/status/1361725446556061697

#2 is to avoid any hint of impropriety
#3 (related to #2) is to guard HER reputation
#4 is to guard against any possibility of false accusations (which do happen unfortunately)

somewhere far down the list is a curtailment on my own propensity for misbehaviour

In more than 20 years of ministry, this has NEVER prevented me from empowering, encouraging, and discipling women. I have met with women 1 on 1, but almost never in a private setting or strictly social setting.

Addendum: The whole conversation hits differently when you're a black male growing up in a country where you are ALWAYS a potential suspect, stereotyped as a hypersexual threat & where false accusations have landed you people on lynching trees & prisons.

Let me keep it: When I was young, & still now I would rarely if ever meet privately in a room with ANY white woman. Why? Because white women have historically been a greater threat to the lives of black men than white men. White women's accusing finger killed a lot of black men

I read Native Son when I was in high school; that + family history + being a black man in America was enough. So when we talk "gender" dynamics, remember that white supremacy intersects with that in a powerful way. It ain't the same for er'body.