Girl math was first popularized on TikTok with girls explaining the mental gymnastics they do to justify spending money on things that they might not need. Some of the rules include: “If you pay with cash, it’s free” and “If it’s on sale, you’re making a profit.” Some rules of girl math are pretty straightforward and make sense, such as “if you use a gift card, it’s free.” But most of them are there to defend spending habits that are objectively bad for your wallet. However, in a time when true financial security is hard to come by (especially for younger generations), sometimes we do have to make those leaps to rationalize spending money on things that are just fun.
Problematizing Girl Math:
- This trend further perpetuates the stereotype that all women think about is shopping and buying new clothes and that they make irresponsible financial decisions to attain a lifestyle that may be deemed materialistic.
- This trend also plays into the stereotype that women are bad at math or other STEM-related fields.
- Girl math encourages women to make financial decisions prioritizing short-term happiness rather than long-term stability.
What is “Girl Dinner”?
Girl dinner was also popularized on TikTok, where many people would use the audio associated with the trend to show off their odd assortment or small portions of food that they eat when they don’t feel like cooking. Girl dinners usually include a charcuterie-esque assortment of items: crackers, olives, chocolate chips, cheese, etc.
Problematizing Girl Dinner:
- Eating habits shouldn’t be gendered. Additionally, it seems a bit suspicious that eating tiny portions of food and calling it a “meal” is feminized, as women are often encouraged to restrict their eating for the purpose of fitting into beauty standards.
- This trend might encourage disordered eating. Having a “girl dinner” is just fine once in a while, but it’s important to make sure people are getting the nutrients they need.
What Now?
Since both of these trends have died down in popularity, much of the discourse has faded as well. Unfortunately, the general trend of adding the word “girl” in front of different words to categorize trends hasn’t died. With aesthetics such as “cold girl” makeup, the “clean girl” lifestyle, and more, the habit of sticking the word “girl” in front of anything that’s remotely trendy seems to be here to stay.
One of the most obvious flaws that I see with this tendency is how it flattens identity. If you see an aesthetic that you resonate with, your life becomes a battle— a battle to buy the right things to fit into this category, to say the right things, to look the right way, etc. Humans aren’t meant to think or behave like that. We are multi-faceted, often contradictory beings. So, the next time you encounter the word “girl” stuck in front of a lifestyle category or a makeup look, it pays to be critical about the message it might be sending.