About

We are two people who met at York University. We haven’t shut up about sexism since.

This blog was born when one of us told the other about an experience she had conversing with two dudes. One dude talked over her, at which the other dude said, “Hang on, I think [Name] was saying something?” She couldn’t believe her ears, and neither could her friend, hearing about it.

The anecdote illustrates the unequal conditions for conversations between men and women. Women are socialised to listen, men to talk. It is all too rare to find a dude who is considerate enough to properly listen to a woman.

It also got us dreaming about a world where dudes are not socialised to be dominant and sexually aggressive, and don’t sexually harass women in public places, or use aggressive pick-up lines.

The name Out of lines is meant to illustrate both that dudes are out of line when they sexually harass us, and that they are, apparently, literally out of lines. Who enjoys crude chat-up lines? Not us! This is our effort to inspire better lines.

The Out of lines Twitter account features the pick-up lines we DO want to hear.