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Why 'Girl Math' Caught Our Attention

We play lots of mind games when it comes to spending, but those games can work both ways.

By Avery Hurt
Dec 4, 2023 2:00 PM
blonde-woman-making-it-rain-with-cash-pink-background
(Credit: Roman Samborskyi/Shutterstock)

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No matter how you feel about TikTok, you must admit it can get us thinking. #GirlMath (or #GirlMaths if you're Down Under or Across the Pond) went viral when it spoofed the ways women supposedly play mind games about spending.

Why Did Girl Math Become a Trend?

Girl Math is enough to make a feminist's blood curdle (to be clear, there's also Boy Math and even Corporate Math, although those memes don't focus so much on shopping). 

But Girl Math is also, well, funny. And it hit a nerve. The trend likely went viral because it addresses, in the way only social media can, the psychology of spending and how very weird that can be. One thing is clear to anyone, girl or boy, who's struggled to make a budget and stick with it: When it comes to money, it's all too easy to play those kinds of mind games.

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