Riding into the Beirut to drop my cousin at university I made a comment about how pretty the women are here. More specifically I was referring to how well kept up they appear. As I mentioned before, fashion is important here. More important on the whole, however, is appearance. I, myself, don't particularly care so much. I wear strange facial hair, I'm too tall and my clothing is always casual. I said there seem to be an inordinate number of women that look like models. My cousin was unabashed in saying "that's because of all the plastic surgeries." I immediately gave her a high five for that comment. That pleased my cynical american ears more than any other comment I've heard yet. I read an article just a couple of days ago stating that Lebanon performs 10 million cosmetic surgeries a year. That wouldn't mean so much except for the following facts:
1) Lebanon only has 4 million people
2) It's "forbidden" by some religions here...
Of course we all know that the second item means very little. But the fact remains that on average each person, man, woman, and child receives 2.5 cosmetic surgeries per year. (I THOUGHT there were too many 98 lb girls with D-cup breasts...) Now, I don't know how to count hair removal in this list, but that is certainly another hugely popular cosmetic procedure. We are Arabs, you know, and so we're hairy and dark. I would expect laser hair removal to count in this category, but some friends say no. Well, I can tell you, just waiting at the airport yesterday for my dad to arrive, there were WAY TOO MANY old women who'd had face lifts. Rather, too many face lifts. Young women with nose jobs and tooth implants, breast implants, tummy tucks, ass lifts, the works. It's crazy here.
There are also 8000 lingerie shops here and ads for skin tight jeans right on the road. Fashion is ever present in the minds of people here. I'm just not up to it yet. Yesterday I saw something that amused me highly. Near the University in Beirut there is a home furnishing store owned by muslim owners directly next to a lingerie shop. In the window of the lingerie shop were some of the most immodest article of "clothing" I've ever seen actually displayed. Modest chairs and pillows here, and 3 feet to the left, crotchless g-strings and bustiers. It was slightly jarring for me to see. I might expect something like this in a fashion district or in Montreal's red light district, but in the middle of a neighborhood, not what I expected.
In other words, keeping up with the Hayeks is an enterprise here. I somewhat enjoy the visual benefits, but suffer the consequences of not keeping up myself. I look forward to bringing all my american and indian friends who look like "bums" (myself absolutely included in this) and tearing up this country and drinking wine like we were in graduate school all over again!
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Maybe the lingerie shop was actually an American Apparel store.
ReplyDeleteTo be fair, lingerie isn't designed to be modest or even actual clothing but the shop's proximity to a muslim-owned store makes it sound hilariously blush-worthy.
The dilemma of aiming for physical beauty: On one hand I think of the Twilight Zone episode where in the near future everyone is required to have plastic surgery, and one girl fights for her right to be natural only to be locked away and shunned. There is something noble about demanding what is true even if it's unpleasant, because acknowledging the truth is necessary for good progress. On the other I see the power beauty has both in relationships and in the workplace. Attractive people are known to be promoted faster and paid more. And what incentive is there for individuals to stop using a working formula to their advantage? At times it can seem like the difference between choosing to win or fail on a personal level or on a greater social one. For someone who works in a purely cerebral field, this probably all sounds silly to you anyhow.
So to end on a superficial note, men can never be too tall.