When we were all in sixth grade, sitting around a campfire, pretending like we had some sort of an understanding of the world we called our home, it was fun to list the best pick-up lines that we could think of.

It was harmless, it meant nothing to equate girls to pieces of homework that we could do on the table, or to a pinky toe that we would later bang.

It was always targeted toward girls, but none of us realized that then. As we grew up, it was still fun to say these pick-up lines, but there was a difference between the way we evolved within these lines that used to be jokes.

People we used to joke with about pick-up lines started using them in actual conversations, hoping they would actually work. Assuming that the cheesiness of them would mask the fact that, essentially, you were trying to get laid or get a date by calling someone an object before even introducing your name or asking for theirs.

While we can assume that women use pick-up lines just like men do, we can also assume they use them at a far less frequency.

I can't help but wonder how this stranger who just walked up to me, asking if I could help him with directions by giving him my phone number, thought the rest of the conversation would go. Did he think that it would work? Did he think that I would actually want to talk to him after he started out the conversation with a lie? He wasn't lost. He didn't need directions.

I didn't give him my phone number.

To everyone who uses pick-up lines, why? Is there something wrong with going up to someone and telling them why you noticed them in the first place? Maybe it was their laugh, their shirt, or their smile and telling them YOUR name before you ask for theirs? When did common decency and politeness suddenly exit everyone's minds and get thrown out the window?

There are little things that happen every day that perpetuate the idea that women are less than men, even if we have made great strides to rectify that in this century. But, no one is talking about this one instance. I hear pick up lines often, either in a serious manner, or as a joke. But, even if its a joke, it's not funny to objectify anyone, woman or man.

Come up with a different way to ask me out, because I'd rather not be the butt of your joke.