Jezebel: Lebanon

Lebanese Erotica Advocate Stirs The Pot

Sadie Stein — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 14:37:00 EDT

With the advent of her magazine Jasad (Bodies), Joumana Haddad became a lightning-rod for criticism — and not just from the religious conservatives she challenges. Some see Haddad as a would-be provocateur playing to western media. To others, she's a hero. More »

Return Of The Native

Anna Holmes — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 16:10:00 EDT

[Beirut, June 20. Image via AP]

Miss USA Isn't The Only Muslim Woman In A Bikini

Irin Carmon — Thu, 20 May 2010 18:20:00 EDT

Amid the insanity surrounding new Miss USA Rima Fakih and the controversy over France's possible burka ban comes some sane context. Mostly from women who know what they're talking about. More »

Family Ties

Anna Holmes — Tue, 18 May 2010 10:10:00 EDT

[Srifa, Lebanon; May 17. Image via AP]

Miss USA Likes Pizza, Believes In Insurance-Subsidized Birth Control

Irin Carmon — Mon, 17 May 2010 10:00:00 EDT

Rima Fakih, the first Arab-American Miss USA, won last night after saying birth control should be covered by insurance. Asked how she felt about winning, she said, "Ask me after I've had a pizza." More »

The Real War Is Over The Size Of Your Hummus Bowl

Irin Carmon — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 18:50:00 EST

Israeli Arabs and Jews have teamed up to help Israel double Lebanon's recent world record in hummus volume, with four metric tons. Can't we solve this conflict with some cross-border splitting of a giant pita and some skhug? [NPR] More »

United/Nations: Ghida Anani On Addressing Violence Against Women

Irin Carmon — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 16:30:00 EST

Last week, sitting alongside United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and the Princess of Thailand, twenty-eight year-old Lebanese activist Ghida Anani delivered a fiery, unblinking address on fighting violence against women. Here's what we talked about afterward. More »

Reading Rainbow

Anna Holmes — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 17:10:00 EDT

[Beirut, October 22. Image via Getty.]

Habitat For Humanity

Anna Holmes — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 10:10:00 EDT

[Beirut, October 12. Image via Getty]

The Sign Of The Cross

Anna Holmes — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 12:10:00 EDT

[Beirut, October 7. Image via Getty]

In Lebanon, Learning To Be Pretty Begins Early

LatoyaPeterson — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 13:00:00 EDT

In Lebanon, a rising trend is for beauty parlors to cater to five year old clients. Providing services like chocolate facials and hair stenciling, is this just a way for kids to express themselves or indoctrination into beauty culture? More »

The Games People Play

Anna Holmes — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 16:15:00 EDT

[Beirut, September 27. Image via Getty]

The Green Berets

Anna Holmes — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 17:10:00 EDT

[Tripoli, September 1. Image via Getty]

Katy Lied

Anna Holmes — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 17:10:00 EDT

[Lebanon, Pennsylvania; August 11. Image via Getty]

Purple Reign

Dodai Stewart — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 18:10:00 EDT

[Beirut, August 6. Image via Getty.]

Straight Shooter

Anna Holmes — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 15:10:00 EDT

[Hadath, Lebanon; July 29. Image via Getty]

Conduct Unbecoming

Anna Holmes — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 18:10:00 EDT

[Avignon, France; July 20. Image via Getty]

The Mediterranean Knee

Anna Holmes — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 10:10:00 EDT

[Byblos, Lebanon; July 12. Image via Getty]

Can "The ABC Of Plucking Pussy Hair" Really Change Anything?

Sadie Stein — Wed, 13 May 2009 13:00:00 EDT

Lebanon's deliberately controversial Jasad ("Body") magazine got off to a predictably controversial start. So how's the self-described breaker of "the obscurantist taboos" actually working out? More »

Obama Fixing America, Not Kissing Enough Private School Ass

Megan Carpentier — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 10:00:00 EDT

People at Washington's Sidwell Friends School (where Sasha & Malia go) are disappointed that the Obamas "only" donated autographed magazines to their charity auction rather than agreeing to hang out with the highest bidder. [MSNBC]

Pink Ladies

Katy Kelleher — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 09:40:00 EDT

A taxi firm in Lebanon is targeting women with a fleet of pink taxis, driven by women, dressed in - what else? - pink. This is the second such company to open in the Middle East. [LebaneseInnerCircle] More »

Lebanese Magazine Advocates Nudity, Change

Sadie Stein — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 13:20:00 EST

A new Lebanese magazine, Jasad, or "Body," may be causing controversy in the Arab world by promising to "deal with the forbidden," but is that in itself enough? More »

Maid In Lebanon

Maria — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 11:20:00 EST

Every week a foreign maid dies in Lebanon, either from suicide or by an employer's hand. There are few laws to protect foreign maids so often the abusive employers are let off the hook. [Reuters] More »

Egyptian Billionaire Arrested For Murder Of Lebanese Pop Star Suzanne Tamim

Jessica G. — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 09:30:00 EDT

In late July, Lebanese pop star Suzanne Tamim was stabbed multiple times and her throat slashed in her well-appointed Dubai apartment. In a pulpy twist, an Egyptian billionaire and parliamentarian, Hisham Talaat Mustafa, has been charged with paying a hit man $2 million to kill Tamim, Mustafa's former lover. According to the English-language Egyptian weekly Al-Ahram, the indictment of Mustafa came as a surprise to many Egyptians, as businessmen like Mustafa are the "backbone of the [ruling] National Democratic Party." Of course, the ruling party is spinning the arrest as a clear sign that it is not biased towards businessmen. Alieddin Hilal, NDP secretary for media affairs, tells Al-Ahram, "the ruling party knows no cronyism and nobody in Egypt is above the law". More »

Maid In Lebanon

Maria — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 09:45:00 EDT

According to a Human Rights Watch report released yesterday, foreign maids in Lebanon have been dying at a rate of more than one a week. Since January 2007, at least 95 foreign maids have died from either suicide, falling from high buildings while trying to escape their employers, or health issues (we're guessing that they don't have healthcare). Interviews with the embassies and friends of those who committed suicide reveal that they were unhappy due to forced confinement and excessive work demands; according to another report, nearly 1/3 of foreign maids in the country are not allowed to leave the homes in which they work. [HRW via NYT] More »

Geraldine Ferraro: You = What The Media Needs To Start Ignoring

Moe — Wed, 21 May 2008 10:00:00 EDT

GODDAMMIT GERALDINE, you just had to drag me back down into your withering wackjob abyss. I said I was never going to post about the Clinton campaign and sexism, since more than 12 out of 12 Clinton campaign surrogates agree that's not why she lost to Obama (despite that, congrats on winning Kentucky yesterday!), and then you go on Fox News and tell Shep Smith that Bob Herbert is a "black journalist who is a surrogate for Obama" on the basis that he is an unremitting misogynist who "hasn't had anything nice to say about Hillary in the last six months." Well, Geraldine, your charge that the media ignores sexism brought me back to a column I read about five months ago. "If there was ever a story that deserved more coverage by the news media," it opined, "it’s the dark persistence of misogyny in America." Well, if it wasn't written by BOB HERBERT himself! Not that you'd bother reading the writings of such a blatant token with a political leanings so simpleminded he would support a candidate solely on the basis of a shared RACE. Anyway, that and oil prices, Hezbollah, a new World Bank report and how come there are no black people in Kentucky with Megan and (a somewhat irate) me after the jump. More »

Sometimes, Ignorance Is Bliss

mcarpentier — Fri, 09 May 2008 10:00:00 EDT

Oh, Moe, what have you done to us? While you were (are?) sleeping the UN decided to halt aid to Burma because the junta just keeps taking it at gunpoint to sell it; Beirut has been at least partially taken over by Hezbollah; there's just too much smack to talk about Mark Penn to even begin to contemplate adding links and, frankly, I'm just a little sick of talking about the primaries. So the Windy's Attackerman and I, in all my morning Glamocratic splendor, take on things we probably should've ignored, like the primaries, Russian goosestepping, Spencer's favorite strip club in all of Canada and Arianna Huffington's secrets about John McCain. More »

The Oh, Hell No Afternoon

mcarpentier — Wed, 07 May 2008 18:30:00 EDT

New York City police arrested Al Sharpton, Sean Bell's fiancée, Nicole Paultre Bell, and hundreds of other protesters today for staging prayer sessions at the exits of Manhattan in protest over the acquittal of the cops that shot Mr. Bell. Because, obviously, inconveniencing others to protest the loss of life means you should spend time at Rikers. Why did they have to make me like Al Sharpton? [NY Times]

Caramel: The Lebanese Beauty Shop For Those Tired Of Tinseltown

maria — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 15:30:00 EST

Caramel: The Lebanese Beauty Shop For Those Tired Of Tinseltown" alt="Click here to read Caramel: The Lebanese Beauty Shop For Those Tired Of Tinseltown" src="http://cache.jezebel.com/assets/images/39/2008/02/small_caramel2020408.jpg"/>

Caramel is a new rom-com from Lebanon with all the typical traits of a Queen Latifah comedy set abroad (and with no Queen Latifah). Nadine Labaki (who also wrote and directed the film) stars as Layale, a Christian woman and owner of a beauty salon in Beirut who presides over a colorful cast of characters who gather weekly to gossip about their lives. Although the film has some provocative themes, even for American audiences (a hairwasher's lesbian crush on a client; a woman who considers vaginal reconstructive surgery) most movie critics have found the film a little too conventional, though pleasant. We say, with all of crap out recycled in Hollywood chick-flick after Hollywood chick-flick, it's nice to see a formulaic but foreign film centered around female friendships. Some sweet and bitter reviews after the jump. More »