Girl Math swept the internet, but have you heard of Boy Math?
Women have created a viral trend in response to some bad behaviour from men and it is based on simple maths … well, kind of.
“I bought this purse for 38 dollars, which means it was 30 dollars.”
If that statement has confused you then there’s a good chance you missed the ‘girl math’ trend sweeping the internet.
The term was coined by New Zealand radio show hosts Fletch, Vaughan and Hayley, and the concept is simple but up for interpretation.
Girl math is the particular way some women justify how they spend money.
So, for instance, if there is an online shop that offers you free shipping if you spend over $100. When applying ‘girl math’ it is more financially savvy to spend $110 rather than $70 and “wasting” $8 on shipping.
The New Zealand radio show runs an ongoing segment where people ring up with shopping dilemmas looking for a girl math solution.
The result is women sharing the unorthodox, verging on delusional, ways they justify their spending by doing girly calculations.
The perfect example is when a young woman Lucy explained on the radio show that she was looking to spend $656 on bedding set.
It was a huge expense, but once the hosts applied some girl maths, it seemed ridiculous not to buy the sheets.
“My maths was based off basically rounding it up to $700. If you divide 700 by 365 … That is how many nights you’ll sleep in the bed a year. That is down to $1.90 a night,” a co-host explained.
See? Girl maths.
The trend took off online and it became a fun way for women to share the girl math they use in their everyday lives, while also lightheartedly poking fun at some of the more ridiculous justifications for spending money.
“Anything under $5 is basically free,” one person explained.
“If something were $38, then I would round that to 40, then when I purchase it, I think that I saved two dollars,” another shared.
But what was a quirky trend quickly became soured by men who completely missed the point and used it as an opportunity to mock women.
The popular Aussie podcast Relatable, that Ottie Clarke and Jake Craig host, called out the movement in a viral TikTok where they laughed at examples of girl math.
The TikTok, viewed over 20 million times, features Clarke reading out examples of girl maths and Craig reacting with shock, dismay and laughter.
“If I don’t buy a beverage today I’m making money,” Clarke reads out.
“What the f**k bro,” Craig responds.
Clarke hits him with another example.
“If I don’t spend any money today I’ve doubled the budget for tomorrow.”
“I can’t deal with this,” Craig responds.
Once more men started jumping on the girl math joke, women quickly realised that, instead of adding to the lighthearted fun, the boys were using the trend to belittle women for their financial decisions.
Multiple people have used the trend as “proof” of the tired trope that men are more “logical” and women are more “emotional” when it comes to finances.
And what happened when the women tried to explain that the guys were missing the joke? The men fell back on another sexist trope that women “aren’t funny” and men are superior comedians.
Well, now women are having the last laugh because they have exposed “boy math” – and it is brutal.
What is the difference between boy math and girl math? Well, women reckon men use this ‘math’ to justify themselves and their actions instead of their purchases.
“Boy math is being 5’10 but rounding it up to 6’0,” someone tweeted, which pretty much sums up the trend.
Social media is now crawling with women mocking men for their miscalculations in life.
“Boy math is being scared that women are gonna use you for money that you don’t have,” someone tweeted.
Boy math is needing 15 attempts to count the votes correctly to become Speaker and then shutting down the government 9 months later
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) September 27, 2023
Boy math pic.twitter.com/de3rvQhJBo
— CIJA (@C0DINCRAZY) September 26, 2023
“Boy math is calling a woman a psycho when she’s reacting to his disrespect,” another wrote.
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“Boy math is being afraid of gold diggers when you only have 3 pairs of socks to your name,” someone joked.
“Boy math is treating women like s**t but then getting mad when she tells people you treated her like s**t,” another wrote.
Women are mocking men online with boy math and it makes you think that men shouldn’t have dared to question girl math.
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