Lebanon: Terrorism, Whiskey, Sexy

Oh, well. Two out of three ain't bad:

BEIRUT has long been known as a city of fashionable bars and clubs, a scene that has survived even amid the bullets and bombs of war.

But the nightlife in this melting pot of a metropolis has taken on a drastic change in the last few days.

By 8pm, women in their 20s and early 30s are prowling in packs of five and six, casting glances at any and all passing men. In the bars the women dance for hours - often on top of the bar - with legs, midriffs, and barely-covered breasts on show.

Samir Khalaf, a professor of sociology at the American University of Beirut, said the situation astonished his American colleagues. "They are just shocked," he said. "'This is Lebanon, the Middle East?' they say. They can't stop talking about all the belly buttons, about all these highly eroticised bodies. You see it everywhere here, this combination of consumerism and postmodernism and female competition."

For a few weeks twice a year, after Ramadan and before Christmas, thousands of Lebanon's young men return from jobs abroad - and run smack into one of the world's most aggressive cultures of female display. Young women of means have spent weeks preening and planning how to sift through as many men as possible in the short time available. The austere month of Ramadan ended just over a week ago.

The country's high rate of unemployment pushes the young men to seek work elsewhere, sometimes in Western countries such as France and Canada, but mainly in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and the other oil states on the Persian Gulf. The women, inhibited by family pressures, are generally left behind.

"The demographic reality is truly alarming," Khalaf said. "There are no jobs for university graduates, and with the boys leaving, the sex ratios are simply out of control. It is now almost five to one: five young girls for every young man. When men my sons' age come back to Lebanon, they can't keep the girls from leaping at them."

For the men, who return with deep pockets and high spirits, the welcome is gratifying.

"In Doha it is completely impossible, because you can't talk to women in the Gulf," said Wisam Hamdan, 35, back from Qatar, where he manages hairdressing salons. "But Lebanese girls are very friendly. I am hoping to meet lots of girls, and then I will pick one."

Thanks to Jack M.

posted by Ace at 04:11 PM

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