Saudi girls and technology-facilitated romance

An article about technology and romantic rituals in Saudi Arabia.

"A cellphone picture of Alia's fiancé — a 25-year-old military man named Badr — was passed around, and the girls began pestering Alia for the details of her showfa. A showfa — literally, a 'viewing' — usually occurs on the day that a Saudi girl is engaged. A girl's suitor, when he comes to ask her father for her hand in marriage, has the right to see her dressed without her abaya. In some families, he may have a supervised conversation with her. Ideally, many Saudis say, her showfa will be the only time in a girl's life that she is seen this way by a man outside her family."
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"Later that evening, over fava bean stew, salad, and meat-filled pastries, Alia revealed that she was to be allowed to speak to her fiancé on the phone. Their first phone conversation was scheduled for the following day, she said, and she was so worried about what to say to Badr that she was compiling a list of questions..... 'Ask him what kind of cellphone he has, and what kind of car,' suggested another. 'That way you'll be able to find out how he spends his money, whether he's free with it or whether he's stingy.'"
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"According to about 30 Saudi girls and women between ages 15 and 25, all interviewed during December, January and February, it is becoming more and more socially acceptable for young engaged women to speak to their fiancés on the phone, though more conservative families still forbid all contact between engaged couples."
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"And certainly, practices like 'numbering' — where a group of young men in a car chase another car they believe to contain young women, and try to give the women their phone number via Bluetooth, or by holding a written number up to the window — have become a very visible part of Saudi urban life."

"A woman can't switch her phone's Bluetooth feature on in a public place without receiving a barrage of the love poems and photos of flowers and small children which many Saudi men keep stored on their phones for purposes of flirtation. And last year, Al Arabiya television reported that some young Saudis have started buying special 'electronic belts,' which use Bluetooth technology to discreetly beam the wearer's cellphone number and e-mail address at passing members of the opposite sex."
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"'If your family found out you were talking to a man online, that's not quite as bad as talking to him on the phone,' Ms. Tukhaifi explained. 'With the phone, everyone can agree that is forbidden, because Islam forbids a stranger to hear your voice. Online he only sees your writing, so that's slightly more open to interpretation. 'One test is that if you're ashamed to tell your family something, then you know for sure it's wrong,' Ms. Tukhaifi continued. 'For a while I had Facebook friends who were boys — I didn't e-mail with them or anything, but they asked me to 'friend' them and so I did. But then I thought about my family and I took them off the list.'"

Love on Girls’ Side of the Saudi Divide - New York Times via miss elisa