AFP did a bitter sweet feature on Lebanon and the holiday season...
As hordes of bachelors return home to Lebanon for the holiday season, young eligible women who far outnumber their male counterparts in this tradition-bound country are angling for the perfect catch.
Estimates are that for every eligible man there are five women available in this small country of four million people. That makes for tough competition among women as they try to find Prince Charming.
'The competition among the women is not on how to outwit each other but how to find that catch, or lakta as you say in Arabic,' Khalaf said. 'And that lakta is a guy who has studied and works abroad, has a good career and is unmarried.'
How many singles will be going from the UAE (and coming back as doubles)?
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38 comments:
Hemlock! although the same subject, but I like this article better!
hmmmm.. Anyone knows about how to get a visa to Lebanon? :P
*books his DXB-BEY-DXB flight*
“The focus is more and more on being beautiful, on pleasing other people. The competition is intense, conformity is a big thing, and everyone, rich and poor, gets plastic surgery. You can go to parts of Beirut where almost every young woman has the same little nose.”
And the big prize, all seem to agree, is the attention of one of the visiting native sons.
DJ: being a woman myself, i can safely say this is the saddest thing i have ever heard.
and you probably liked the article cuz it came with pictures :D
aymony: i guess you have to be male? =)
I would also like a visa to Lebanon.. pls ....
the article is en eye opener for myself . I thought lebanese were hard to get........
I am a man, but I consider what happens to be sad. In particular the girls comment that "all men who stay in Lebanon are stupid and unambitious" is a somewhat disturbing viewpoint.....
anon 22:46: hmm... i'm thinking.
because you didnt get a Lebanese you assumed the problem was with them? that's full points for confidence :D
anon 22:55: development of a collective conscience.
This was a shocking article... read it in The National.
To hemlock from ANON
confidence may be use but logical thinking and reality 200% .
Lebs hard to get? LOL! Even the guys are easy!
Comes across like a cattle market. I pity the girls.
@ Anon 22.55. Well if that's how the chicks who stay in Leb think of the guys who stay in Leb (note the irony!), is it any wonder they are like game in open season?
im booking my flight to Iraq right now.
because im Lebanease and they all think im stupid and unambitious
Hemlock the article is full of ridiculous stereotypes. As are some of the anonymous comments you might agree.
This is really Surprising and Shocking.
Hemlock:
That's an interesting article especially that bit about /eligible/ women seeking The-One that come home to roost during the holiday season.
However, it's also biased & a bit sexist because it sort of portrays (Lebanese) women as hyenas seeking out preys. Is that really true or just a made-up assumption by media stereotypes, as aptly put by Dubai Jazz?
That's an honest & innocent question /by the way/ so please don't jump the gun at me?
yummy :)
we have a saying in arabic though that goes "من برا رخام من جوا سخام
"
Which translates to "(some houses) have marble facades yet are full of soot inside" ... or in english.. "appearances can be deceiving"
Still worth looking at the visa though :P
It seems the house is so strong & bewildering, with all the soot inside.It still seems to be attractive.
kyle: the reason i put up the article was because it ALMOST struck too close to home.
the pressure of getting married within a certain age bracket, to the "right person" (one who comes with a certain socially acceptable persona) and the fact that in primarily patriarchal cultures, a woman's success is measured by her having a husband (and 'making babies', as ive learnt from some emirati friends here) =)
the feature would aptly describe any eastern country, be it arab or asian (not sure about the chinese though), minus the plastic.
can you imagine the pressure on the women who willingly go under the knife just so they can look a certain way and appeal to a(ny?) man's basic instinct...
i really hope and pray women (and men) in lebanon figure out looks arent lasting... and even plastic comes with a 'best before' date.
and all the gentlemen rushing to lebanon for a piece of the pie, both the features say (most of) the ladies are looking for "lebanese/native sons" to "marry"... so if you want to go join the festivities, that's one thing, but i doubt you'll be able to bring home a wife...
buj: heh. shame on you! tsk!
DJ: come on, admit it dude, it WAS the picture right? you like picures =D *hides*
Lirun: the beirut party sounds like fun, being a single lebanese chick doesnt :(
would never want to be judged on looks alone.
Its a common saying that Lebanese are "3rab" in the GCC, "French" when in Europe, and "Phoenicians" when in North America.
That said they sure know how to party and are also quite proficient professionally so dont want to make too many jokes on them.
Anon, 26 December, 2008 11:40:
I agree with every word you said. spot on! You know who's the major recipient of Lebanese racism? ;)
Hemlock, only a gay wouldn't favor an article when it comes with a photo like that!
Besides, the caption reads it was a Halloween party. So the role-playing graphic was needed to emphasize the occasion. :P
hi hemlock.. you know i was only joking.. and personally as a man, i would never want to marry a girl that does cosmetic surgery to impress me. Actually I don't know what kind of man marries a woman who has gone under the knife to look better. I'm a strong believer that plastic surgery should be mainly used to help people who are disfigured from car accidents etc rather than to attract "wolves" to their "pray"...
have a nice day, and stay safe.
(buj, i know you were kidding!!! hence the "heh" in the beginning) =D
good comments here...
free though flowing is it......?
from my personal experience most of the lebanese are preety racist .
90% of the lebanese women go under the knife to attract so called " preys or lakhtas "
they most senseless thing is they tend to behave and act in a very sophisticated way ( which other would know they arenot)
fact : i am working for a hospital here and last 2 years we had like 92.7% ( 578 to be exact )plastic surgeries to lebanese women ...
wonder wat now.....
hmmm... i always wondered why every lebanese music video featured an ample amount of sluttiness... i guess it was all part of the mating rituals....
i'm amazed at the amount of disrespect being directed towards the lebanese... i dont care how 'racist' the lebanese are, but those leaving anonymous comments seem no different...
to me it just seems a case of sour grapes.
However, it's also biased & a bit sexist because it sort of portrays (Lebanese) women as hyenas seeking out preys. Is that really true or just a made-up assumption by media stereotypes, as aptly put by Dubai Jazz?
Nope, Its a FACT. Lebanese women are out for a guy... preferably one who drives a BMW... and who's father is loaded.
Bujassim is being nice with his sayings. We haveanother one specifically about LEBANESE and MOROCCAN women. "Al Sharaf 3ugbil bizat wal 7ishma 3ugbil mamat"
Figure it out.
anon 19:20: piety before money and hijab before death?
(at least that's what i think it means; i cant figure out how to put it in the context of this conversation, unless it's said sarcastically)
So anyone buy me a ticket to lebanon im looking for some piledriver action plz
Hemlock, you got a good part of it right!
"piety after money and chastity after death"
I can see why such stereotypes are there, however, it's still always wrong to generalize.
@ Anon 26 Dec, 11:40
"It has been my experience that Lebanese girls are as easy as girls from any other country."
Tsk Tsk! Sweeping generalisations! Says who all girls are easy eh? Clearly you've never met me!
Food for thought: if most MEN did not favour looks over brains or a good heart or a great personality, maybe some women would not feel so compelled to go to such extremes to appeal?
From DJ's article, "stare-down contests between young women in restaurants and malls are common".
You must be kidding me! People do this in their late 20's/ early 30's? That's so childish! I don't get the point, seriously. Anyone care to shed some light please?
DJ: aah! makes much more sense now =) thanks.
kind of a nasty thing to say about anyone.
it's also so much easier to generalize and demean people you dont know or understand.
TABOULEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHH!
i personally i dig the natural look.. but anyone who feels they need enhacement is no less a person in my eyes.. i have met people who have felt so much freer from a little bit of topical surgery.. then again i have met people who have become so enslaved to that tiny little extra correction that they look nothing like their old photos at all.. which always creeps me out..
but still.. none of my business..
i think women around the world have had a raw deal.. whether held back in various "traditional societies" or worked like horses in "modern societies" while under-remunerated and under appreciated ie exploited - women have had crazy breast cancer rates and at the end of the day are still required to keep it all together and look amazing..
and frankly "we guys" settle for nearly nothing less..
im not envious.. in jewish morning prayers guys say thank you to g-d for "making me man"..
anon @ 30 December, 2008 00:48
This is unfair. While we are on stereotypes, the Lebanese girl who is slutty is so for her own entertainment. The Moroccan girl is doing it strictly for the money. Obviously that is a silly generalization, but that's the rep.
I agree with Lirun though.. I don't care if a girl (or guy) want to go under the knife to feel better. Whatever. However, whenever my wife tells me that she wants a nose job (nothing wrong with her nose) or a boob job (she thinks they are smaller than she would like them to be), I tell her this: If you get anything done, you will have to also find yourself a new husband.
I married her without the extras.. and frankly, as with the Simpson episode on plastic surgery, it's not that plastic surgery itself is bad.. it's just that it isn't sophisticated enough to look good :)
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