On a Lighter Note…Laughing Your Way Out (Being a Female Athlete)

One of the perks of being a female athlete is the invitation to show off, and prove that you can really do what you pretend saying. When younger cousins dare you to accomplish those deeds, it is just as important to be funny and take it lightly than to make a big deal out of […]

« Transmettre la nationalité au conjoint et aux enfants »: un droit encore non acquis pour les Libanaises!

En tant que Libanaise vivant au Liban, je jouis certes d’une marge de liberté introuvable dans certains pays avoisinants. Je peux conduire une auto, enseigner à l’université, boire un kir royal dans un bar huppé de Beyrouth, me pavaner en mini-jupe en toute saison, fumer le cigare ou la pipe, débattre de sujets ‘sensibles’ en […]

Womanhood in Western Asia Cannot be Summarized in ‘Clichés’

Most Western Asian societies are struggling nowadays with social, political and economic crisis. They also suffer from diverse forms of discrimination (gender, religious, political, etc.) based partly on highly selective memories serving particular interests and ideological positions. However, there are spaces of dialogue and conviviality, and gender equality cases. Just as memory and identity support […]

Causes of Divorce: Stop Blaming it on Women!

I am a Lebanese woman living in hell since I divorced. “Social hell” if I can label it this way… Lebanese society is of course diverse, still, its perception of divorced women is archaic and sexist. Women are usually blamed for a failed marriage: “she could have prevented it”, “she did not sacrifice enough”, “how […]

My Journey with Plastic Surgery is Over!

I began this journey with physical embellishment in my early 20s with Rhinoplasty or the nose job. In my 30s: breast augmentation, liposuction and eyelid lifts. In my 40s, a vaginal wall repair surgery after delivering two babies. My husband wasn’t happy with a wider vagina. Is he happy today? Not at all… What have […]

Sex Trafficking in Lebanon

Sex trafficking is considered to be part of human trafficking or modern-day slavery. Up to 27 million people are living in slavery around the world: women and men, girls and boys, and their stories remind us of the kind of inhumane treatment we are capable of as human beings. In 2012, Lebanon was among the […]

Manipulation: How to Spot it and What to Do about it?

Who can honestly say that he-she never manipulated someone else in his-her life and/or has never been manipulated? Etymologically, manipulation (from ‘manipulation’ in French and ultimately from ‘manipulus’ in Latin) refer to: treating or operating with or as if with the hands or by mechanical means (but this is not the content i am pointing […]

Mémoire et Identité au Liban : de l’Exclusion à la Médiation

Vivant depuis 1999 entre le Liban et le Canada, je fais partie de la génération des enfants de la guerre du Liban en sa période la plus sanglante, étant née et ayant grandi dans son cadre. La mémoire chargée de souffrances et d’une quête incessante de survie, je cherche constamment un sens au tumulte de […]

Lebanese Women in Politics: between Actual and Muted Participation

Throughout history, women have often considered themselves as living in a male oriented society. Thus so, we find that most innovators in practically all fields happen to be men. Be it arts in its liberal or conventional forms, music, economy, religion ,science or philosophy, even war, men have always been the primary movers and shakers, […]

Women's Brains versus Men's Brains?

Biological deterministic approaches teach us about the differences between a woman’s brain and a man’s brain. However, new extensive researches in Neuroscience prove that major differences exist between individuals’ brains. “Brain plasticity” is the key concept to explore. It refers to the capacity of the nervous system to change its structure and, its function over a lifetime, […]