Re:The impact of sexual abuse on female development: a longi...
by ars on Thursday January 13, 2022 @01:14PM
(#29924388)
It's much much much older than that, see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yichud
It doesn't prevent abuse by a close family member though.
Not only does it help prevent things from happening that could be a problem later, it helps prevent even accusations of such, if it's well known that the person involved holds to this rule and expects others to hold them to it as well. Say what you will about Pence, love him or hate him, nobody is accusing him of sexual misconduct - and that's the point of the rule.
[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Graham_rule