Women hit back with ‘boy math’ after men miss the joke about ‘girl math’

After

“girl math” took the Internet by storm,

women are hitting back with “boy math” jokes of their own, poking fun at men and how they rationalise the things they do and say.

“Girl math” is a tongue-in-cheek way that women use to justify big ticket spending. The term originated on a radio show in New Zealand but gained popularity around the world through TikTok in recent weeks.

Some have used girl math to satirically rationalise buying expensive fashion items, saying for instance that wearing them multiple times lowers the cost of their purchases. Others have applied the same logic when making purchases with cash, as it does not leave transaction records on their cards.

But it also drew criticism from men, who complained that these girl math users “don’t know math”, which showed that the jokes had gone over their heads.

Enter “boy math”, the fairer sex’s riposte at the boys who do not get it. Women are using one-liners or videos to not just joke about men’s mathematical logic or financial decision-making, but also what they see as other problematic male behaviour.

One Instagram user said “boy math” is a man thinking that if he takes out the trash and mows the lawn, and his partner does all other chores, that this would amount to an equitable relationship.

An X user pointed out that “boy math” is rounding up one’s height of 5 feet and 10 inches (1.78m) to 6 feet (1.83m).

Another waded into politics, with one pointing out that boy math is saying you won an election when you lost by millions of votes.

During the 2020 US presidential election, Donald Trump lost the popular vote to current US president Joe Biden by more than seven million votes. He is now facing

felony charges for attempting to overturn the election results.

Some men also poked fun at their own mental gymnastics, using “boy math” to justify buying a $60 game, since it would occupy him for 120 hours, meaning he would not be able to annoy his girlfriend for this period of time.

While “boy math” banter continues to draw more acolytes - TikTok videos of the trend have amassed more than 60 million views compared to “girl math’s” 555 million - some netizens have acknowledged that men brought it upon themselves with their excessively serious responses to “girl math”.

TikTok user oatmilkoni said: “Next time they make a joke, just laugh bro.”