I hear so many opinions from girls and guys about dating in the middle east, and most of the time the people get so many things wrong its frankly irritating they mix so many things together and get a lot of things wrong and assume stuff, which makes me wonder if they even have a clue what they are talking about.
Of course there is no smoke without fire, and som things are indeed true, in this take iam going to share with you what its like to date in the middle east as a middle eastern, it may surprise you and it may not, but i hope it helps you understand the situation better .
What are the middle eastern countries ?
Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Yemen , Bahrain .
Now, are all middle eastern countries the same ? do they all share the same traditions?
they do have some in common yes, some foods can be found anywhere, but apart from that, no not at all, for example we have the Levantine : which consists of Lebanon,Israel,Jordan,Palestian territories and Syria .
on the other hand we also have the Gulf countries : Bahrain,Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and theUnited Arab Emirates .
the levantine and the gulf countries are so different its shocking, way different dialects, differnet traditions, different music taste, different rules and laws, different clothes ...etc
in the levatine its very normal to see peopel wearing this :
in fact shorts, Skirts, tight outfits, jeans, dresses ...etc are very common and often worn by a lot of girls , pretty much what you would expect to find in a western country , you can easily find fair skinned people, blonde, redheads, and peopel with colored eyes, in fact some are mistaken for being european, you will find all sorts of combinations, of course they aren't techinically as arab as the gulf ones but they are still considered arabs by tha majority of the world .
in the Gulf on the other hand the guys wear more traditional clothing, not all of course the younger generation just wears normal casual wear, jeans and shirt , women on the other hand usually wear hijab and long dresses that cover ther entire body, in some countries though some dont wear hijab or cover every inch of their bodies .
So you probably want me to get to the dating part, and iam going to do just that.
for most people in the western world dating in the arab world is so extreme, sad and violent, is that true ? iam not going to deny it yes in some parts , in some gulf countries and even in some parts of the levantine area, egypt and even turkey yes if you are a girl and you are caught with a man who is not your finace or husband it could lead to a shit load of issues, let alone actually having sex which could easily lead to an "honor killing" , and the guy you were caught with will get beaten as well if not killed (Not always but happens a lot ) so yeah its not an ideal situation .
but what about the other half ? the levatine countries ? others parts where dating is actually not an issue at all ?
before we get to that you have to undestand something very important about Lebanon,Israel,Jordan,Palestian territories and Syria, they are mixed countries, they have Christians, Muslims, Druze, nomads, jews and few other minorities .
let me talk about Thew jews and Christians (me being one myself) first since iam most familiar with those, dating to 90% of them is very similiar to the west, you like a girl, approach her, go out with her on dates, buy her gifts, she buys you gifts, after a while you meet her parents ,she meets yours ...etc
for the majority of jews and at least half of the christians (a little less than half maybe 30%-40%) sex before marriage is pretty normal and they usually do it without much consequences, but of course the slut shaming and all that still exists , so they should watch out not to overdo it .
with that being said you can find a lot of virgins much more than in the west, i would say around 60-70% of the arab christian girls wait till marriage to have sex , but kissing does happen before marriage .
Druze and muslims are a bit more extreme, some muslims are just like christians and jews, and even those who aren't usually dont end up killing their duaghters for sex, but they dislike it so much they might disown her or punish her for dishonoring them ( keep in mind for arabs family is extremley important and it doesn't matter if you're a guy or girl if you dishonor your family they aren't gonna like it ) .
as for the other half of muslims and the druze (druze is a very small religion with around 1 million followers who live mainly in israel, syria and labanon) sex outside of marriage, cheating and such behaviours uusually result in the woman and the man she had sex with being either killed or severly hurt, either beaten, shot , stabbed ...etc
Honor killings do happen no one is denying that and its bad , fortunately its happening less and less but its still a thing , but for the most part as an arab guy you can easily date an arab girl (even if you're not an arab guy ) without facing much issues, i have went on so many dates with a lot of girls including foriegn girls and to be honest couldnt find much differences, and i have also heard from a lot of foriegn girls either directly or indirectly that they think middle eastern guys are really attractive, of course iam sure they didn't think that watching hollywood movies lol cause lets face it they bring some of the least attractive bunch they can find who represent maybe 10-20% of the arab population .
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