Breaking in the boys club??

[letterboy]

OK... thus my response that I don't think it's a "boys club" - that's just the kind of thinking that perpetuates the situation

So you think it is a mentality?

 

[HowardE]

So you think it is a mentality?

I think that if you label something; then it's easy to perpetuate that assumption.

Maybe in some places - diving is a boys club. But I wouldn't generalize diving, nor would I generalize anything.

For example, "snowboarding is for young punks with baggy pants - hanging down to their ankles"

Maybe there are SOME snowboarders this way, but to stereotype all snowboarders as baggy panted punks is not fair.

So - to generalize that diving is a "boys club" because in one small microcosm of the world it is, is unfair to those places where diving is shared equally by men and women.

 

[UnderSeaBumbleBee]

Well it works with my wife!! You SHALT NOT seems to be mentally translated as I will do what the hell i like!!

Baack to the point though, have you got a friendly connection with an LDS? Have you considered going to them and asking about Girls only courses, boat trips? How about girls only socials? We tried that here and it worked v. well, but you do need to be careful of alienating us poor, sensitive, shy fellas!

When I was getting certified last year, I took my friends to the shop and they were less than impressed with the guy at the shop. They said they got the impression that he was very bothered to have us in the store. I have since found 2 other shops in the area that are very nice. I was in one last night that said since I purchased something from him --only like $80-- that I now could use his heated shop pool anytime. He it was a great experience to purchase from him and I sent him an email this morning thanking him. He didn't know I was "Queen Leah" from Scuba Board, he just knew I was someone lurking about in his store. I think, I might try to take them to his store and see how that goes. Having the pool right there and having such good service might help tip the scales in my favor. Since I have started diving, I feel like I have left a lot of people behind that I would like to still spend time with--but my free time is now spent diving and so the story goes.

 

[Rick Murchison]

One answer... or... how the Lovely Young Kat learned to like diving.
It all began at a charity auction. A Scuba Instructor (female, but that's not really relevant) was donating two OW courses. I asked Kat if she'd take the course if I bid on it, and I asked a friend if he'd take it with her and split the cost if we won the bid. In that charitable moment both said yes... We won the bid, she took the course, but still wasn't that "hot" on diving.
However, I bought her a full set of gear, including her own tank. She's not one to waste an investment, and so went diving with me around Texas - Lake Travis and the rigs off Corpus Christi, and then in the gulf off the coast of Alabama when we moved back here. She went with me, and had a pretty good time, but never had that "burning desire" for diving like I did...
Several years later I took her on Blackbeard's. When we came up from the first dive, her first ever on a reef in warm, clear, tropical water, I was all grins and asked "How'd you like that?" - fully expecting to be 'the hero' for bringing her to such pristine diving, expecting her to be all bubbly and impressed and enthusiastic... but instead, the conversation went
She: "You son of a *****!"
Me: (taken completely aback) "Wwhhaaaaaa??????"
She: "All this time you've had me diving in mudholes and oil rigs and junk piles when this was out here!!! You owe me big time, buddy!!"
--- now she's an Advanced Rescue diver and the only trouble I have is finding the time and money to take her diving enough!
Rick

 

[victor]

How about organising a discover scuba with only female staff members. I suspect some of the problems are "I don't want to look foolish in front of a MAN".

Having an all girl session would let them let there hair down without worrying about it.

When I was getting certified last year, I took my friends to the shop and they were less than impressed with the guy at the shop. They said they got the impression that he was very bothered to have us in the store. I have since found 2 other shops in the area that are very nice. I was in one last night that said since I purchased something from him --only like $80-- that I now could use his heated shop pool anytime. He it was a great experience to purchase from him and I sent him an email this morning thanking him. He didn't know I was "Queen Leah" from Scuba Board, he just knew I was someone lurking about in his store. I think, I might try to take them to his store and see how that goes. Having the pool right there and having such good service might help tip the scales in my favor. Since I have started diving, I feel like I have left a lot of people behind that I would like to still spend time with--but my free time is now spent diving and so the story goes.

 

[Diving Doc]

When I was getting certified last year, I took my friends to the shop and they were less than impressed with the guy at the shop. They said they got the impression that he was very bothered to have us in the store. I have since found 2 other shops in the area that are very nice. I was in one last night that said since I purchased something from him --only like $80-- that I now could use his heated shop pool anytime. He it was a great experience to purchase from him and I sent him an email this morning thanking him. He didn't know I was "Queen Leah" from Scuba Board, he just knew I was someone lurking about in his store. I think, I might try to take them to his store and see how that goes. Having the pool right there and having such good service might help tip the scales in my favor. Since I have started diving, I feel like I have left a lot of people behind that I would like to still spend time with--but my free time is now spent diving and so the story goes.

If this is the case he is a very silly man as women make up 51% of the population!!:10:
At the end of the day, shops with this mentality are dinosaurs (and there are plenty of them about) and are destined to go the same way!:shakehead

from my perspective, there is a great sea change (pun intended) to the attitudes of females and more and more of them are coming into what once was a male orientated sport.

 

[Walter]

Do you have any suggestions as to how I can talk some of my gal friends into diving?.

First you have to recognize that diving is not for everyone. Some folks just aren't going to like it.

The danger, the look, the weight to the gear, and so on blah blah blah. I try to tell my friends that everyone looks bad in a wet suit—even the so called hot people. A wet suit and dive gear is the great equalizer when it comes to beauty.

While there is some danger, a well trained diver is pretty safe. The danger of diving is a myth. There are different size tanks. A 5' woman shouldn't be trying to lug the same size tank as a 6' 2" man. The good news is she doesn't need the big tank, he does. As for the look, you are wrong, my dear. There's nothing more beautiful than a woman just up from a dive with the possible exception of a woman during a dive.

Share your love of diving. Tell them about the fun, the beauty (reef, fish and them), the feeling of weightlessness, the caress of the ocean, the friends................let them see how your eyes light up when you talk about diving. Take them to aquariums, show them videos, magazines, coffee table books.......... Some will become divers, most won't. Take the few, don't worry about the rest.

 

[Gilldiver]

Tell them that they can meet a lot of single guys (of all ages) that like outdoor activities, travel to the islands, adventure, and have smoe extra dollars to do it with.

Most are heathy, respect women, and they most likely would be one of the few girls around 5 to 10 guys and have all the guys attention.

That should do it.

 

[drbill]

You need to tell them anything more than the ratio of male to female divers? What a great way for a lady to meet a guy!

 

[TSandM]

I think the last three posts have it.

I talked one of our best friends into learning to dive, simply by being so annoyingly euphoric about diving and how wonderful it is, and by showing her pictures of the fascinating sea life we have in the Sound. I think the same thing worked on another couple we know -- Just us being so enthusiastic, and sharing photographs, did the trick.

I OFTEN wonder why more women don't dive, since single women often want to meet men, and wow . . . There are LOTS of men in scuba diving! And it beats hanging out at the art museum

I can count on my fingers the dives I've done with a female buddy. The good news is that I adore my male dive buddies, and I've always liked men and liked being around them (a residency in general surgery reinforced that!) But there IS a different dynamic when two women dive together, and sometimes that's a fun change.