Steven Seidman argues “that the culture of Hamra tolerates considerable diversity in personal styles and itineraries, but non sectarian others (gender, sexual, and ethnic) are sites of anxiety and mistrust; they survive on the borders or back regions of Beirut.” By comparing the street topography and the contours of the self he attempts to demonstrate how streets become social enclaves or security combat zones rather than serving as gathering spaces or public spheres. This shapes the construction of the self and how the self engages with the other, where urban topography intersects with Beirut's unique history of shaping the contours of the self.
"Women share the streets with men, but not their power" according to Seidman, who examines the limits of tolerance towards women, foreigners, and non-heterosexuals. Though a culture is "taking shape in Hamra", it is at odds with cosmopolitanism having a “hard edged culture of civic indifference and mistrust". This cultivated indifference towards others gives to Beirut’s streets something of its speed, its impressive play of form and movement, its fluidity and apparent lightness of being, even if this surface conceals passions fired by fear and loathing, dread and hatred.