Almost everyone can admit to practicing the concept of “girl math” at some point in their lives. Calling something “basically free” if it costs less than five dollars, or if you’re paying with cash are examples of “girl math.” It entails any of the excuses we make up to justify poor spending habits. I can admit I often use this rationale, maybe even too much. Many people, especially those just gaining some financial independence like teenagers and young adults, engage in these unhealthy habits. And similar to seemingly everything, rationalizing poor money management has become a trend on social media, especially on Tik Tok.
“Girl Trends” and Gender Equality
Just as girl math emerged, so have many other “girl trends” such as, “girl dinner”, “hot girl summer” and “clean girls.” While there is nothing that is inherently wrong with these trends, it leaves me wondering about their effect on the perception of girls in our occasionally misogynistic world. For instance, a trend that pokes fun at girls justifying spending habits that are seemingly irresponsible or inaccurate, creates an image that girls aren’t money conscious and therefore ignorant.
The math field particularly is predominantly male, with females only making up 25 percent of mathematical occupations, despite females comprising nearly 50 percent in the total workforce. Female equality and representation are large issues within our modern society, so why, in an already unequal industry, are we belittling our abilities and disqualifying logic in women’s money management. As far as women have come in educational and professional settings, there are still imbalances that need to be addressed, I feel this disparity is one of them.
“Girl Math” Trend
After I thought about these issues I did some research into girl math to see if anyone else had conflicting opinions. In doing so, I found that after “girl math” emerged, so did a new trend called “boy math”- characterized by men justifying their spending in similar ways. This finding offered some relief in my mind about strictly female degrading trends such as “girl math.” As with most trends, some took the “girl math" joke too far; I found people making misogynistic jokes about more serious topics than just bad spending habits.
“Girl Math” and “Boy Math”
This trend of “girl and boy math” has even been used by politicians like Alexdrandria Ocasio-Cortez, a US representative, who posted to X (Twitter) slamming one of her colleagues Kevin McCarthy, the Speaker of the house, about the budget issues and government shutdown. She tweeted, “Boy math is needing 15 attempts to count the votes correctly to become Speaker and then shutting down the government 9 months later.”
Something as trivial as a Tik Tok trend can become so popular that our politicians are using it to call each other out over social media. All to show the expansive impact this trend has had for so many different people. Also, trends like this could negatively affect how younger generations of girls view themselves and their abilities especially in subjects that are male dominated, like math.
Reflection
My point with this article is not to slam trends like this or even to convince others not to participate in them. I personally will still consume these trends and admit to falling under the perspective that these are just fun and not all damaging. I want to challenge others to, on occasion, consider a different perspective of a social media trend that can seem harmless but may not be. I don’t think that anyone can say for certain if “girl math” is completely harmless but there’s good reason to take gender out of some trends to weaken the effect they have on movements in women's equality. Especially as trends like this one eventually reveal themselves relatable for all genders.
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