--- title: Biden Pledges to Be 'More Mindful' of Women's Personal Space description: Former Vice President Joe Biden said he will be "much more mindful" of other people's personal space. canonical: https://time.com/5563770/joe-biden-women/ author: Tara Law article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-04-03T19:54:14.000Z article:modified_time: 2024-01-24T11:21:43.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Biden Promises to Be 'More Mindful' of Women's Personal Space og:description: "The boundaries of protecting personal space have been reset" og:url: https://time.com/5563770/joe-biden-women/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte83db360e53ef7ff/698947c286f68e062a6eb9ee/joe-biden.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4000 og:image:height: 2250 og:image:alt: Joe-Biden og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Biden Promises to Be 'More Mindful' of Women's Personal Space twitter:description: "The boundaries of protecting personal space have been reset" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte83db360e53ef7ff/698947c286f68e062a6eb9ee/joe-biden.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Biden Promises to Be 'More Mindful' of Women's Personal Space > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Tara Law](https://time.com/author/tara-law/)  ## Tara Law Updated: Jan 24, 2024 11:21 AM UTCPublished: Apr 3, 2019 7:54 PM UTC  Joe Biden delivers the keynote speech at the First State Democratic Dinner at the Rollins Center in Dover, DE on March 16, 2019. Joe Biden delivers the keynote speech at the First State Democratic Dinner at the Rollins Center in Dover, DE on March 16, 2019. NurPhoto—NurPhoto via Getty Images  by [Tara Law](https://time.com/author/tara-law/)  ## Tara Law Updated: Jan 24, 2024 11:21 AM UTCPublished: Apr 3, 2019 7:54 PM UTC Former Vice President Joe Biden said he will be “much more mindful” of other people’s personal space, after four women came forward to say he made them feel uncomfortable. In a video statement released on Twitter, Biden did not apologize for his interactions with women, but noted that he has heard the criticism and will respond to it. “Social norms have begun to change, they’ve shifted. And the boundaries of protecting personal space have been reset,” Biden said. “And I get it. I hear what they’re saying. I’ll be much more mindful, that’s my responsibility and I’ll meet it. But I’ll always believe that governing is about connecting with people. That won’t change, but I’ll be more mindful and respectful of people’s personal space, and that’s a good thing.” Biden said that while he’s always made an effort to make “gestures of support and encouragement” to men and women, he recognizes that he needs to adjust. Biden said that he has a record of empowering women and working to prevent abuse, and that people should believe him when he says that he can change. > [](https://twitter.com/JoeBiden/status/1113515882960052224) “The idea that I can’t adjust to the fact that personal space is important — more important than it’s ever been — it’s just not thinkable. I will. I will,” Biden said. Biden’s past conduct with women has come under scrutiny since March 29, when _New York_ magazine published an account by [Lucy Flores](https://www.thecut.com/2019/03/an-awkward-kiss-changed-how-i-saw-joe-biden.html), a former Nevada state legislator. Flores said that Biden had made her uncomfortable by kissing the back of her head during a campaign event for her 2014 lieutenant governor run. Three other women later came forward to tell stories about awkward encounters with the former Vice President. Biden has been widely criticized for his conduct, including by [House Speaker Nancy Pelosi](http://time.com/5562673/nancy-pelosi-joe-biden-touching/). “I don’t think it’s disqualifying because I because I don’t think it’s disqualifying what your intention is,” Pelosi told [Politico.](https://www.politico.com/live-stream/playbook-interview-with-nancy-pelosi-2019) She continued, “But I think it’s important for the Vice President and others to understand is that it isn’t what you intended, it’s how it was received.” Biden [also commented](http://time.com/5561929/joe-biden-lucy-flores-accusation/) on the accusations on Sunday, saying that he did not believe that he had acted inappropriately with women. Read the full transcript of the Biden’s remarks below. --- > “” --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5563770/joe-biden-women/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5563770/joe-biden-women/"},"headline":"Biden Promises to Be 'More Mindful' of Women's Personal Space","datePublished":"2019-04-03T19:54:14.000Z","dateModified":"2024-01-24T11:21:43.000Z","description":"Former Vice President Joe Biden said he will be \"much more mindful\" of other people's personal space.","url":"https://time.com/5563770/joe-biden-women/","keywords":["2020 Election","Joe Biden","politics","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte83db360e53ef7ff/698947c286f68e062a6eb9ee/joe-biden.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tara Law","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tara-law/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte83db360e53ef7ff/698947c286f68e062a6eb9ee/joe-biden.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Joe-Biden","caption":"Former Vice President Joe Biden Keynotes First State Democratic Dinner","creditText":"NurPhoto—NurPhoto via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2020-election/","name":"2020 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5563770/joe-biden-women/","name":"Biden Promises to Be 'More Mindful' of Women's Personal Space"}}]}] ```