Muhajababes

Two-thirds of the population in the Middle East are under 25 years old and, though many now have university degrees, thre aren't enough jobs to go round. They're having a collective quarter-life crisis. In the months before turning 25 herself, Allegra Stratton set out to meet them. She visits Beirut, Amman, Cairo, Dubai, Kuwait City, and Damascus - moving with the Middle Eastern ripple of change: Iraq's first post-Saddam elections, Lebanon's Cedar Revolution, Mubarak's decision to hold multi-candidate elections and Kuwait giving women the vote. She looks for youth culture as we know it - hip-hop artists, pop musicians and film-makers - but soon discovers these are a minority pursuit. Instead, a massive video industry of airbrushed, heavily produced, scantily clad singers hold the affections of young Arabs. And there's a contradiction. Many of the fans of these semi-naked popstrels are also very devout. 'Muhajabah' means one who veils. These veiled but sexily dressed young women, then, are the Muhajababes.