{"id":1789,"date":"2023-08-29T14:07:30","date_gmt":"2023-08-29T13:07:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kityates.com\/?p=1789"},"modified":"2023-08-30T20:47:41","modified_gmt":"2023-08-30T19:47:41","slug":"heres-why-the-new-girl-math-trend-just-doesnt-add-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kityates.com\/?p=1789","title":{"rendered":"Here\u2019s why the new \u2018girl math\u2019 trend just doesn\u2019t add up"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This post is adapted from my Indy Voices article<\/a> of the same title originally published on 24\/08\/23<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new splurge now, justify the cost later craze has taken social media by storm. Good, harmless fun? Not by my calculations, says mathematician Kit Yates<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

f you want to get a lifestyle craze trending on social media<\/a>, then you could do worse than stick the word \u201cgirl<\/a>\u201d in its name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s how we got \u201chot girl walk<\/a>\u201d \u2013 a trend<\/a> promoting both the mental and physical health benefits of walking \u2013 and \u201clazy girl job<\/a>\u201d \u2013 a phenomenon extolling the virtues of improving your work life balance. There\u2019s also \u201cgirl dinner<\/a>\u201d, which sent the internet<\/a> into a frenzy over its simple prescription of low-effort snack-based dining, and now the newest addition to the crowd: \u201cgirl math\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many of the \u201cgirl\u201d trends have had their share of criticism, from accusations that lazy girl job promotes low career aspirations<\/a> to suggestions that girl dinner might encourage unhealthy dietary choices<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, to me, \u201cgirl math\u201d feels a bit more troubling than the previous trends. It originates from a New Zealand radio show in which women ring in to describe and justify expensive purchases they\u2019ve made. The hosts then use some basic maths to help the caller feel better about the money they\u2019ve blown. For example, to justify buying a $1,000 designer bag<\/a>, \u201cgirl mathematicians\u201d might give it a five-year lifetime and calculate its cost per day of just 55 cents. Add in multiple uses for the bag (eg handbag, cabin bag, shopping bag, festival bag) and you might find it\u2019s actually saving you from having to spend more money on other items.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a funny trope, which is why \u201cgirl math\u201d videos are getting<\/a> millions of views on social media \u2013 particularly on TikTok. It\u2019s also getting people to do a little bit of real-world maths which (although not super high-level) from my viewpoint as a professional mathematician is always welcome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indeed, calculating the daily cost of a purchase over its lifetime is not a terrible suggestion when it comes to budgeting, although it\u2019s a calculation you should really do before making the big-ticket purchase rather than to justify it afterwards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have a couple of gripes with the trend, however. My first issue is with the name itself. Mathematicians have fought and indeed continue to fight a battle for representation in our traditionally male-dominated subject. We constantly struggle against tropes that suggest maths isn\u2019t for girls or that \u201cgirls don\u2019t like hard maths<\/a>\u201d \u2013 a theory advanced by the government\u2019s former social mobility tsar Katharine Birbalsingh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So I find the idea that there is maths for girls (the \u201cgirl math\u201d trope typically employing fairly straightforward calculations) and by implication maths for boys, hard to stomach. As I have argued previously, it\u2019s important that we continue to reinforce the idea that all of maths is for everyone<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes the logic underlying girl math TikToKs can leave a little to be desired. For example, under the unwritten rules of \u201cgirl math\u201d<\/a>, returning an item of clothing that costs $50 and then buying another item with a price tag of $100 means that that second item, in fact, only cost $50. Again, I know it\u2019s a joke, but the justification of clearly flawed reasoning by its association with girls, as if this is a trait specific to women, doesn\u2019t do anything to dispel long-held and damaging stereotypes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similar to the \u201cwomen are bad drivers\u201d trope (which is a pernicious myth<\/a>), this sort of stereotype can seep into the view that the caricatured group hold of themselves<\/a>. \u201cDubious math\u201d would be a far more accurate name for the trope, as well as removing its stigmatising impact, but of course, it wouldn\u2019t capitalise on the \u201cgirl\u201d trend and perhaps would never have gone viral in the first place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My other issue with the trend is that, for some people, \u201cgirl math\u201d may become more than just a joke.  Some of the more worrying tropes that \u201cgirl math\u201d relies on are that \u201ccash isn\u2019t real money<\/a>\u201d or that purchases under $5 are \u201cpretty much free<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indeed, in line with the \u201ccash isn\u2019t real money\u201d trope, there is evidence to suggest<\/a> that people pay in cash for purchases they find harder to justify to themselves so that there is no electronic paper trail. This makes it easier for the guilt associated with the offending purchase to be forgotten and similar purchases repeated in the future. Reversing a seductive \u201cgirl math\u201d calculation for the $5 trope, it\u2019s also worth working out that a $5 purchase every day of the year adds up to $1,825 over the course of a year \u2013 a significant portion of most people\u2019s annual budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m all in favour of spending our hard-earned salaries on the things we enjoy and which make our lives better \u2013 we need these perks to lighten our moods in these difficult economic times \u2013 but it\u2019s important to remember there is a literal price tag attached to those purchases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am advocating for spending our money with agency and intention \u2013 budgeting and planning in order to make the treats we buy ourselves viable in the long term, avoiding the post hoc \u201cgirl math\u201d justifications that could lead to unsustainable spending habits.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This post is adapted from my Indy Voices article of the same title originally published on 24\/08\/23 The new splurge now, justify the cost later craze has taken social media by storm. Good, harmless fun? Not by my calculations, says mathematician Kit Yates f you want to get a lifestyle craze trending on social media, … Continue reading Here\u2019s why the new \u2018girl math\u2019 trend just doesn\u2019t add up<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1791,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_bluesky_dont_syndicate":"","_bluesky_syndication_accounts":"","_bluesky_syndication_text":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[29,14,30,31,32],"class_list":["post-1789","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-girl-math","tag-mathematics","tag-shopping","tag-tiktok","tag-trending"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kityates.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1789","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kityates.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kityates.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kityates.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kityates.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1789"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.kityates.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1789\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1820,"href":"https:\/\/www.kityates.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1789\/revisions\/1820"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kityates.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kityates.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kityates.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kityates.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}