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196 Deborah Wheeler

and gender. When Nassima’s narrative is viewed in light of the tes-
timony of other women interviewed for this article, it becomes clear
that Internet use at this particular school is influenced by the ad-
ministration and architecture of the lab, and thus not necessarily
representative of young Kuwaiti women as a whole. For example, at
the Learning Resource Center, the only time for free use of the In-
ternet is after school, when girls are most likely not able to “stay
after.” Families in Kuwait tend to keep track of their girls in a way
that they do not track boys. Girls have a clearly defined place within
the home and the extended family network to which boys are not as
strictly subject. Perhaps if there were Internet free play hours avail-
able for girls during the regular school times, they would be more
apt to play with the technology. I have found that when homes have
an Internet connection, girls are just as apt as boys to use the tool.
Both boys and girls tend to gather with friends at home or at Inter-
net cafes to surf the Net. The physical layout of the Learning Re-
source Center also limits female use. For example, there is only one
computer at available with an Internet connection. If boys are using
this machine, girls are unlikely to play along with them. As dis-
cussed previously, there are active cultural hegemonies in Kuwait
which keep genders from mixing. Boys and girls do not feel comfort-
able sitting together, thus with one computer to use in the Learning
Resource Center, girls are not as likely in this environment to inte-
grate Internet use into their social practices. Perhaps if the learn-
ing resource center had separate hours “for girls only” during
regular school hours, they would be more likely to learn and to play
with this tool.

Su’ad
Su’ad is an electrical engineering student at Kuwait University. She
is twenty years old. She began using the Internet in college, and ad-
mits that at one point she became addicted to it and had to quit cold
turkey for several months until she got her use under control. Now
she limits herself to access once a day. Her narrative is important be-
cause it provides a contrasting image to that constructed by Nas-
sima. She explains:

I use the Internet every day. I come to the lab and use IRC.
My little sister uses it too. She’s been using the Internet
since she was six. She’s eight now. People hack around all