NYT: Lebanese women in aggressive display to attract rare men.

[oblivious]

Where the Boys Are, at Least for Now, the Girls Pounce


BEIRUT, Lebanon, Nov. 1 — This is a city of nightclubs, but the nightlife is something else these days, and not just because of the feverish edge sharpened by the war last summer.

By 8 p.m., women in their 20s and early 30s are prowling in packs of five and six, casting meaningful glances at any and all passing men. In the bars the women dance for hours — often on top of the bar — and legs, midriffs, bare shoulders and barely covered bosoms are offered for public admiration.

Samir Khalaf, a professor of sociology at the American University of Beirut, said the scene 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 eroticized bodies. You see it everywhere here, this combination of consumerism and postmodernism and female competition.”

...For young women here, dressing fashionably is a competitive game; stare-down contests between young women in restaurants and malls are common, particularly, say the girls, when one of the women is accompanied by an attractive Lebanese man.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/02/world/middleeast/02beirut.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

[SoCalDem]

1. Primal urge to "replace" the lives lost?

This always follows wars:)

[NOLADEM]

2. HOLY SHIT.....How much are plane tickets to Beirut these days?

:evilgrin:

[hughee99]

3. Call it a hunch,

but the law of supply and demand will correct this inequity shortly. If there's an overabundance of 1/2 naked women somewhere looking for men, young men will start planning their "spring break" now.