Gender-specific jokes have become a thing in recent times. It is, however, interesting that such a thing could trend on social media, seeing gender-related conversations have become highly controversial. 

But feminists and their counterparts on the other spectrum seem to have nothing on this one. Boy Math and Girl Math became a thing after a TikToker unknowingly started the trend.

Before looking at the origins, it is crucial to examine the meaning of those two terms. Girl Math is basically a joke about the many rationalizations that women make to justify their serial shopping and impulsive buying. 

Likewise, Boy Math is a meme and joke about the irrelevant rules and hypocrisy that govern men’s activities. So, Boy Math and Girl Math are stereotypes of how the average man or woman behaves in certain situations.

It is common logic for women to see a fully loaded credit card as an upfront, and proceed to max it out on a single shopping spree. 

Most women also visit high-end clothing stores with the excuse of merely window-shopping. After arriving, they find themselves trying out different items just to get a feel. Before long, they’re leaving the store with multiple bags of merchandise. Interestingly, most of these memes are created by women.

Girl Math started as a trend on TikTok after a user, @samjamessssss, suggested switching the social media rant from “Girl Dinner” to “Girl Math.” Not long after it started, female influencers on TikTok hopped on the trend, and it went viral. 

 It is true that not everyone was amused by the theme of Girl Math, many women found it as an avenue to laugh off their idiosyncrasies.

After seeing how well people caught on to Girl Math on TikTok, some folks tried to float a similar trend for men and tagged it Boy Math. However, it did not gather momentum until late 2023.

Similar to its predecessor, Boy Math is a lighthearted way of calling out men’s many lapses despite being touted as the all-strong gender. Interestingly, women are also the initiators of Boy Math.

The major goal of Boy Math is to point out that men are not as frugal or logical as they claim to be. Unlike Girl Math memes that are mostly posted on TikTok, Boy Math tends to be more prevalent on Twitter. 

Sometimes, Boy Math may be in the form of TikTok content in which a creator reads an X post.

One of the most prolific examples of memes in the Boy Math category is “being afraid of gold diggers when you only have 3 pairs of socks to your name.” 

Another one is “craving a woman who is a stay-at-home mum, but who also pays all the bills.” “Storing up broken stuff in the garage, basement, or attic like it would fetch millions at an auction” is yet another example.

These memes have ever since become a subject of pop culture, so much so that you have politicians and notable people hopping on the train. 

 Regarding the recent attempt to shut down the government, politician Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez joked, “Boy math is needing 15 attempts to count the votes correctly to become Speaker and then shutting down the government 9 months later.”

Another boy math-wittingly calls out Elon Musk for the huge financial reverses he suffered from his Twitter purchase. 

Overall, the jokes in the witty quips of boy math and girl math are just ways of laughing off the quirks of different genders. If nothing, it is a pointer to the fact that women also have potential as comedians.