[Air-L] Girl Math Theory by Irma Mastenbroek

[Geert Lovink]

Girl Math Fundamentals – Proof by Subversion by Irma Mastenbroek

In this first, groundbreaking essay on Girl Math, Dutch feminist mathematician Irma Mastenbroek argues that the girls’ seemingly shallow, consumerist rendering of girl logic should be read as an epistemic critique of its violent twin, Boy Math. The girl’s alleged irrationalities become deliberate mathematical sabotages, where axioms like “cash is free” and “paid-for vacations are free later” form the basis of an internally coherent Girl Math universe. The girl online loves pissing off boys with her emotional vibe calculus; the girls who get it, get it, and the ones who don’t remain locked inside their own brittle, rational thought prisons. In this significant contribution to Girl Theory, Mastenbroek proposes a paradigm shift in which “omg, same” vibes function as forms of vibrational truth through their resonance and intuitive same-ish-ness. In Category Theoretic terms, the author shows that whatever a girl thinks or says can be mathematically formalized—and therefore justified—just as boys have been doing within their self-appointed rational order for centuries.

https://networkcultures.org/longform/2025/11/20/girl-math-fundamentals-proof-by-subversion