http://missmentor.com/2007/06/21/cubicle-etiquette/

In this particular situation, the boss is asking the employee to go to a movie and prefers that she not bring her husband.

You bring up an excellent point about the difficulties finessing collegial male/female relationships in the office. You also open an entirely sore topic for many women, the exclusion from the informal power structure.

I gotta question this advice. I don’t know the particulars of this situation, but a male manager asking a male subordinate to join them for a drink off the premises isn’t unusual.

The difference is that the male subordinate is unlikely to think about what’s behind it – they just go. They talk with the boss. They gain the boss’s trust. They get better assignments. They get promoted.

Although I do suspect that most men are pigs, even pigs aren’t always stupid… if you’re that worried about it you can bring a recording device and hit RECORD if they do get stupid. Most likely your cellular phone has this capability.

If you remove gender from it, then it looks like an opportunity to get to know your boss. That’s not a bad thing. Most strong business relationships are based on some kind of personal trust.