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When walking into a DS for the first time, I'm always greeted by a sales pitch for Discover Scuba and/or the current OW Special Promotion. Then I get the "You don't look like a diver." [What does a diver look like anyways?]
I am always required to show my log book to the DM in charge and he makes some stupid comment on how I can't have possibly dove recently or regularly because I'm not tanned enough.
Just wondering if any other scuba chix out there have problems with this?
LL, it must be human nature.....
The attached photo is part of an ad campaign from a technical dive equipment manufacturer. It has resulted in quite some controversy, as I have heard women divers being quite upset with the ad, with them suggesting that it was some oil boobed half-naked bimbo. The guys seemed to be quite fine with it.
Turns out she is not only a diver, a rebreather diver, but a rebreather instructor, so it was women who weren't taking her seriously. The ad campaign has worked perfect for the woman who owns the dive equipment manufacturer, and it must have amused her that it was primarily other women who didn't take the model seriously.
We have women here who are highly educated and trained in diving...we just had a new woman member sign up the other day who is GUE trained and she was writing about some tech diving stuff that made me want to say; "Yeah, what she said!"
I am going to guess that the few people don't take women too seriously don't do so out of outright malice anymore then if you saw a 300 lb guy who told you he was a manicurist you wouldn't suspect such.
The few times guys have treated me like a ditz I just asked them if they favor Haldean algorithms or variable permeability bubble models for deco and regardless of their answer, reply with "but what about soft tissue compartments"....turn a potential negative situation into mischief that is fun and worthy of a good story and laugh for all.
Hehe...good one!
Nice Ad. It's kinda like the Anna Kournakova thing. She's good, but it's mainly women who diss her.
I guess I'm just annoyed that I can't just pop into a dive shop when I travel and sign up for a charter without going thru it all and in the end still get stuck on the beginner boat for some stupid reason. Maybe it's just a cold water thing.
I am man. I can change, if I have too.
I find it interesting that you find men who treat you like you don't want to be treated. The truth is that for now it is a "Man's sport". Not correct but that is how it is preceived. So you know that I am with you in this is by stating that both my wife and duaghter dive. There is no disbelief when I say I dive, but they are surprized that my wife also dives, and completely off gaurd when they learn about my daughter.
As more women enter the sport and begin to own shops, lead trips, and generally become more recognized in the industry, then it will change.
At least this is the truth as I see it.
Daddy-h20:
It's more the case where I want to dive a certain wreck or a certain profile and only a few DS have charters going out: so I check out the shop to find that is it a Bastion of Machoism. So it comes down to do I just bear with it to do the dives I want, or go to another DS on the opposit side of town? As I'm often traveling alone and trying to squeeze in a few dives, sometimes going to that other DS isn't an option if I want to get any diving done. It just that the BS is getting really old.
You're right in saying that more women are diving now, but that's still mostly in warmer waters. However, there's more gear for women & more sizes now; it was only a few years ago that I had to get custom or special order from the US directly through the manfacturer as no LDS would special order a women's anything even if I paid for restocking.
Thanks for listening to my rant.
No problem, and again I am tossingh ouit pc for the sake of the truth. I hate to say it but, yes you will either need to deal with the BS or not dive. I will go out on a limb and say that if you stick it out and do the dive you will eventually win their respect. This is also assuming that you dive with the same group over the course of time.
I wish you the best of luck. We don't dive alot of deep wrecks of caves or anything overly extreme but if you make it anywhere near us you are welcome to dive with us.
Hey LL, we got lotsa lady divers out here on the east coast, b'y!
An interesting observation that you make, and unfortunate. In theory we should all be happy if we were all treated like that because it might mean that the dive operator is actually concerned about our safety and not just our money. But if it seems "gender specific" I can imagine that's not too pleasant.
But seriously, out here in Nova Scotia we have lots of female divers doing diving that many would consider pretty hardcore. I don't think it is as much of an issue here.
I just realized I'm in the ScubaChix forum . . . is that legal??
I dive with quite a few fellas that are very highly skilled and trained tech divers. I am very lucky that I have such mentors to dive with and work on skills with, including my SO. There are some in our little "community" (for lack of a better term), that think I'm just some girl, trying to fit in with the big boys. I'm really not trying to fit in with the big boys, I'm just trying to improve my skill level, and be able to do the bigger dives. I'm the first to admit I'm on the learning curve, and do not claim to know things that I do not. I do, however, seem to have to work twice as hard for some to realize, "hey.. yanno...she's not so bad afterall..."..lol.. I really don't pay attention to what people say about me being a "chick" heading in the tech direction, I just keep my head down, do my drills, and be a safe diver.
Ok... I was going to type, "Be all that you can be," but that sounded too much like an army commercial.:p
Safe and happy dives :)
Most of this is when I'm traveling and go to a new DS, but sometimes home is wierd too.
Chantelle:
My "home" group is very similar, but I too feel that I have to do twice as much to get taken seriously or even accepted/tolerated. Most think I'm just a self-propelling spare air bottle underwater. I always get the feeling that I've intruded into a guys club and although they don't say it, it's like "why don't you go hang with the rest of the wives over THERE".
Seasnake:
So what are the RE prices and when is a good time to move there? Kidding aside, when is the best time to go diving? & where can I more info?
You would never guess diving is a testosterone driven sport by the make-up of my group of diving friends. We all belong to a dive-shop based club made up primarily of diving couples from fairly young to some in their 70's. Our last trip to Bonaire was made by 7 husband and wife dive teams and one gay couple.
Some of the women in our group have logged in the thousands of dives all over the world. They are our most revered diving gurus and closest friends.
The club does have a group of tech divers who hang close together. But their knowledge and insight into our sport is informative conversation. They respect where others are in this sport, regardless of gender.
Our LDS is run by a married couple with logs that look like New York City phonebooks. They have as many women's wetsuits and other accessories on the racks as they do for men.
My greatest thrill in diving is doing it with my wife as my dive buddy. We get to share some of the most incredible sights that nature has to offer on this planet. We see with our own eyes a part of the web that holds all of life on earth together, that few other humans will ever experience. How cool is that? And I can't think of a safer buddy to have than one who actually wants to see you come back alive.
Anyone who feels this is a "man" sport is missing at least half of the fun.
Mountain Dog
Great post, Mountain Dog. I do think, however, that there was a misunderstanding there. I do not feel this is a "man's sport" at all, otherwise I wouldn't be participating in it. Sometimes it just takes double the work to be seen as an equal in the water. It doesn't really bother me too much, as I posted before, I just keep my head down and do my stuff. I'll be twice as good in the long run. :) One would hope, anyway...:p
It is great diving here year 'round. If you want the warmest water/most marine life ... late August early September. Best viz is probably spring up until June, first of July even. We have a yahoo group if you want more info I can send you an invite ...Quote:
Originally Posted by littleleemur
Please do ;)
Tanned enough?
That is when I laugh, because I know I have been diving longer than the DM (usually). And I know that real men (and SCUBA Chicks) do it in the cold! When the sky is cloudy, the wind is blowing, the waves are crashing, and the water is just about frozen, we jump right in and that is why we are not tanned enough.
So me white as a ghost will only laugh at them.
:-) Surely if they're that tanned, then they've been spending too much time on the surface trying to catch the eye of some poor unfortunate!!
Our dive club is probably heading towards equal proportions, both in the newbie ranks and the experienced and instructors. I was out in Malta last week, helping out on a TDI ER course, 6 students total, 3 guys and 3 girls (and the girls rocked).. heading out there again tomorrow for Advanced Trimix, four students this time, again half and half.
Come over this side of the pond, nobody here's going to pre-judge you :)
Laughing at them is one thing, trying to get a spot on the advanced boat is another.Quote:
Originally Posted by acelockco
I clearly remember my first checkout dive as an OW student: it was Memorial Day weekend and there was freak storm coming in. There was a combination of snow and sleet coming down on the boat to the divesite. As I was preparing to take my giant step into the water, it started to hail.
When they see the date on my C-Card, I have no problem getting on any dive boat (so far).
Most of my favorite dive buddies are women... not because they are beautiful to look at (which they all are) but because they are extremely competent divers (most are instructors) whose diving more closely mirrors my own. They seem far better at recognizing relationships: that of the dive buddy as well as the ecological ones.
Acelockco... I almost always have trouble diving with an operator once they see my c-card. It's not that it is from the late 60's, but that it is from Los Angeles County. Heck, where do they think the early PADI founders and instructors came from. I got tired of being asked to do check out dives by instructors so young I'd been diving more than twice as long as they'd been alive. Funny that the PADI instructor in Cairns who did my AOW instantly recognized my LAC c-card and said it should be in a museum!
Quote:
Originally Posted by DrBill
I doubt you saw the humor in being referred to a museum. :eek: :eek:
Imagine something you earned being placed in a museum, I'd think that I would have to kill a bull or something, just to prove my virility. :D