Dating, Love & Relationships Around The World

For our surfers in the UK, there’s a five-part series coming to BBC in May and it will offer a highly individual insight into the world of Muslim women around the world.

The series, Women in Black, will offer a different ‘Islamaglamour’ perspective to hidden stories from women across the Middle East. The series is authored by British-Yemeni journalist Amani Zain, has worked at the BBC’s Country File and Primary Arabic, and in Yemen as a social counsellor on a project affiliated to the UNHCR. It is produced by Fatima Salaria, who has worked at BBC current affairs for several years as a senior producer.

The series will explore stores in Britain, Egypt, Dubai, Yemen and Holland.

“Discover the Muslim makeover, sexy underwear and female Formula One racing driver in Dubai; clubbing, cosmetic surgery and surely the world’s only Qur’an inspired TV sex therapist in Egypt,” the programme blurb says.

I’m hoping that the program will attract Mulim and non-Muslim alike. There’s so much speculation and rumor regarding Muslim women. With a little luck the program will be available in the US soon.

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IDS Tags: Arab, Britain, Muslim

Though it may seem old-fashioned in a US context, finding a partner without your family’s help bucks most Muslim traditions. While these informal meetings happen, the concept of dating for fun simply does not exist in Islam. Any potential match is judged, pursued, or abandoned based on marriage potential. In the US, however, many Muslims – especially Arabs – have re-interpreted parts of the courtship process to allow for something closer to the American way.

The careful rules that dictate male-female interaction and courtship between Muslim couples quite simply can’t be applied in the US as they are in predominately Muslim countries. What’s more, Islamic teachings lay out few indisputable guidelines when it comes to finding and meeting a mate; every Muslim tradition has its own interpretation.

The result: US Muslims are pioneering ways to read Muslim rules in ways that make sense in an American context. Many are meeting through the Muslim Student Association. The MSA at campuses around the country is nicknamed the ‘Matrimonial Student Association’ because it’s an acceptable social setting for otherwise taboo meetings between singles.

Some Muslim families are allowing their children to take advantage of nikah, an old tradition that allows something close to American dating. Under Islamic law, nikah is a legal marriage that entitles couples to all the privileges of marriage. In practice, most using a nikah remain chaste until their wedding night. If the couple decides to break up during the nikah, there’s far less stigma than getting divorced after the marriage ceremony.

While Muslim courtship rules vary around the globe – from arranged marriages (possibly never seeing your partner’s face before the wedding night) to looser versions (spending time with each other in the company of family) – most Muslims would agree that a guy and a girl going out alone doesn’t fly. A popular Hadith, or saying of the

prophet Muhammad, warns that when an unwed man and woman are left alone, Satan is the third person in the room.

Many of the traditions remain unchanged with the US Muslim singles, such as speaking with her parents for permission to court. This traditional courtship in the presence

of their families, means never spending time alone or kissing until they are married.

“I think it’s widely accepted now among Muslims in America that things are not the same as they were in their country of origin, whether it’s Sudan, Pakistan, or Egypt,” says Imam Mohamed Magid, the executive director of the All Dulles Area Muslim Society in Sterling, Va.

Read The Full Article

Arab & Middle East Singles…..

Technorati Tags: Arabs, Muslim, Islamic, Muslim Student Association, Matrimonial Student Association, nikah, arranged marriage, Hadith, Muslim singles, Pakistan, Egypt

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IDS Tags: America, Arab, Articles, Dating, India, Love, Muslim, Singles

Well not exactly “down and dirty” in my books, but depending on what part of the world your from, you might consider this last craze a little over the top.

NakedNewsTV got as much attention as the celebrities when they hit the red carpet at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Not surprisingly, Naked News is quietly having it’s presence felt across the globe. They have become the most successful crossover from the Internet to Television in history and has been on North American PayPerView Television for over 5 years.

The program, which features nine female anchors reading the news in the nude or stripping as they present

their news segments, will now be broadcast in Spanish, Italian and Korean, along with its already available Japanese broadcasts. The channel gets its information from regular news services and uses professionally trained writers and directors to produce the bulletins of political, business, sport and entertainment news.

Available through various providers such as InDemand in the United States and Bell Express Vu in

Canada, it is also being carried in Hong Kong, United Kingdom and Israel. The service is available to a number of major hotel chains in countries such as the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, Hong Kong, Philippines, Thailand, South Korea, and South Africa.

They also have a Naked News TV specifically for the gay market which is available on PrideVision in Canada, and recently New Zealand added the show to their TV line-up.

Technorati Tags: NakedNewsTV, celebrities, Toronto International Film Festival, Naked News, female anchors, Spanish, Italian, Korean, entertainment news, InDemand, Bell Express Vu, Hong Kong, United Kingdom, Israel, United States, Canada, Caribbean, Philippines, Thailand, South Korea, South Africa, gay, PrideVision, New Zealand

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IDS Tags: Africa, America, Asia, Australia, Britain, Europe, Humor, Korea, New Zealand, Philippines

Sometimes I daydream about hitting the open road. Convertible top down, my hair blowing in the wind, I could just leave the everyday stresses behind me.

Wouldn’t it be great to travel the world by car experiencing all that each country has to offer?

If you take a look at this video on the world’s most dangerous roads, you might consider that cruise you’ve talked about.

Technorati Tags: dangerous roads, cruise

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IDS Tags: Humor, Videos

I’d love to take my husband’s staple gun and use it to attach those baggy pants of my nephew to his waist. Obviously I’m not alone in this observation as about a dozen Louisiana towns and cities have enacted or are considering bans on saggy pants.

The “baggy pants” was made popular in gangster rap videos and is believed to have started in prisons, where inmates are issued ill-fitting jumpsuits with no belts (to prevent hangings and beatings).

Sen. Derrick Shepherd’s introduced a bill that would have made it illegal to wear, in public, clothing that “intentionally exposes undergarments or intentionally exposes any portion of the pubic hair, cleft of the buttocks or genitals.” Violators would have faced a fine of up to $175 and eight days of community service.

Exceptions included thong swim suits and clothing worn in fashion shows

Senator Shepherd said the state should take a stand against droopy pants, which he called just one example of widespread indecency in contemporary clothing styles.

“The shorts are getting shorter, the tops are getting smaller, the cleavage is getting larger,” said Shepherd, “When are we going to say, ‘Enough is enough’?”

A state Senate panel rejected the bill on Tuesday Senator Shepherd tried and failed to pass a similar bill in 2004, but the measure died in the face of opposition from the American Civil Liberties Union.

Technorati Tags: baggy pants, rap video

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IDS Tags: America, Humor

Police in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, arrested 13 suspected sorcerers accused of using black magic to steal or shrink men’s penises after a wave of panic and attempted lynchings triggered by the alleged witchcraft.

Penis snatching is not all that uncommon in West Africa, where belief in traditional religions and witchcraft remains widespread, and where ritual killings to obtain blood or body parts still occur.

The victims claimed that the sorcerers simply touched them to make their genitals shrink or disappear, in what some residents said was an attempt to extort cash with the promise of a cure.

Police arrested the accused sorcerers and their victims in an effort to avoid the sort of bloodshed seen in Ghana a decade ago, when 12 suspected penis snatchers were beaten to death by angry mobs.

I have a few gentlemen I’ve met over the years that I’d like to introduce to the sorcerers. I wonder if they’d consider a trip to North America. Something tells me that they’d have a wave of ladies interested in their services.

Technorati Tags: Republic of Congo, witchcraft, West Africa, genitals, sorcerer, Ghana

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IDS Tags: Africa, Humor

This cute and funny video was put together by LadiesInThailand.com . The sorry gentleman makes sure he doesn’t get the same type of woman who just left him.

He’s looking for a special lady….

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IDS Tags: Humor, Videos

This isn’t a pretty dating video. It’s a starting realization of just what goes on in the dating world. Most of the video is related to young singles who along with their parents and professionals share their experiences of real stories of dating abuse.

Every form of abuse is covered from emotional abuse, verbal abuse and right down to sexual abuse. If you’re a parent or single take a close look at these startling stories.

This video is not for the faint of heart - it’s very disturbing.

A Special thanks to ChooseRespect.org for the video

Technorati Tags: dating video, dating, dating abuse, emotional abuse, verbal abuse, sexual abuse

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IDS Tags: Dating, Singles

An Internet porn site has come to the rescue of seven “Mothers of Serradilla”. The ladies, from the village of Serradilla del Arroyo in western Spain, posed nude for a calendar in an effort to raise funds for a recreation center for their children.

The women apparently got the idea from a group of middle-aged women in England who posed almost naked for a calendar in 1999 that helped raise money for leukaemia research. It was made into a film, “Calendar Girls”, starring Helen Mirren.

Unfortunately, the venture didn’t prove profitable for the women and they ended up in debt to their local printer as only 1 500 of the 7 000 copies of the 2008 calendar were sold.

All is not lost as Fisgonclub, which bills itself as an “amateur live porno site,” stepped up to the plate and paid the 9,000 euros owed to their printer.

Fisgonclub said that five of the “mothers” will take part in a live Internet video-conference this week from their village in an attempt to sell the rest of the calendars.

Good luck ladies!!! Interested in purchasing a calendar?

Get Yourself A Calendar

Technorati Tags: Internet porn, Mothers of Serradilla, leukaemia, Calendar Girls

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IDS Tags: Humor, Spain

A Cambodian activist who has worked to rescue girls from sexual slavery has won the World Children’s Prize for the Rights of the Child.

The Swedish prize committee said that Somaly Mam had been honoured for her “dangerous struggle” to save girls sold to brothels in Cambodia. She was elected winner in a vote by 6.6 million children around the world. Ms Mam was sold as a sex slave as a child. She founded the charity Afesip, of which she is president, in 1997. It has built safe houses providing refuge, food, health care and schooling for girls saved from slavery. In 2006 her 14-year-old daughter was kidnapped, raped and sold to a brothel before being returned.

Ms Mam will receive her award from Queen Silvia of Sweden at a ceremony in a castle outside Stockholm tomorrow. Josefina Condori, of Peru, and Agnes Stevens, of the US, will share an honorary award. Ms Condori has helped housemaids living in “slave-like conditions” in Peru and Ms Stevens works with homeless children.

Technorati Tags: Cambodian, sexual slavery, Swedish, Stockholm, Peru

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