“Good Girls” and “Smart Boys”
Lakshmi Lingam, Isha Bhallamudi · 2024
An increase in mobile phones and internet access in India – despite gender, class, and caste barriers – has created moral panic about how these technologies disrupt traditional forms of control over girls and women. Families extend traditional forms of gendered control to how young girls can access and use mobile phones. Through a qualitative community-based study among low-income communities in Mumbai, this chapter throws light on the gendered aspects of mobile phone access and use and explores forms of disciplining of young girls and boys to fit the assemblage of patriarchy and markets, through the continuous social reproduction of “good girls” who avoid using technology and “smart boys” who use technology to approved ends.