Welcome to DruzeDate.com. (I know what you’re thinking: “They don’t look Drusish.”)

In a culture distinguished by its privacy and closely guarded traditions, Web sites like DruzeDate.com are revolutionizing the Druse dating scene. The Druse are a small and distinct religious group that broke with Islam about a thousand years ago; their communities are mainly in Lebanon, Syria and northern Israel. Because the Druse do not accept converts, a strong emphasis is placed on self-preservation through marrying within the Druse community.

While DruzeDate.com is the first all-Druse dating site, there is evidence that Druse singles have been using the Internet as a dating tool for years. A quick look at the message board of the American Druze Society in Washington, DC (www.adsdchouse.com), shows personal ads being posted on the message board as early as 2000. While most of the ads list the typical requirements – apparently “nice face” and “slimness” play an equally important role in the American Druse community as in the general American one – many ads rant about the “closed-ness” of the Druse community. “Druse girls are impossible to date,” wrote one frustrated user. “They expect so much and think they can be so picky. I am going to give up on them soon, and start dating white chicks!”

That whole construct of men wanting women to have nice faces and be slim while complaining that it’s the women who are picky? Sounds awfully familiar to me. I really wonder how many of these complaints are universal dating issues, how many are indigenous to strongly affiliated tribal cultures, and how many are 21st century societally impacted.

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