Differences Between Men And Women In Diving

[Surelyshirly]

I've dove with two women. ..... One would hump her own doubles, the other would rather not..

First off I do carry my own tanks....but honestly who really wants to, so I have just mentioned that fact on occaision

I dive to dive and am not much for socializing. A good diver is all I'm looking at. If you happen to be a babe AND a great diver, well....that's just a plus.

Secondly, glad to be a plus Jack

But back on topic.... Jack is great to dive with, one of my favorites, but I do find some men judge you on your dive and if you are not spot on...they assume you never will be. You are not allowed any bad dive days.

Most of the guys I dive with are not that way but I have seen it happen. I am sure these same guys would have something to say about a male diver on a bad day too (after all they NEVER have one) but they seem to make it a bigger issue when it is a woman.

I think woman try a little harder just to stay even. One of my regular dive buddies is always saying "I'll do that, that is what dive buddies are for" and I am always struggling to do things myself anyway. Stubborn streak I guess, least thats what Walter said when I did it to him.

 

[TSandM]

I wouldn't be surprised if we try harder than the guys do to be completely self-sufficient, in order not to look or feel incapable or dependent.

The whole five days I was in SoCal, I seethed every time I had to ask anybody to help me move the 130s around. Then, the last day, radinator says to me, "I have to hand it to you, schlepping around those big tanks!" (He'd been the guy having to lift them to the concrete wall all day so I could get into them.) I felt bad about needing any help; he was impressed I could do as much as I did. Totally different perceptions of the exact same thing.

 

[Shiver]

I'm always finding myself in need of an insta-buddy. I'm single and none of my friends are divers. I also travel quite a bit, so when I rock up in a new town I just find a local dive charter I like the sound of, show up for the boat dive and am assigned a buddy on the way to the dive. I don't mind it at all and enjoy meeting new people that way (and I'm not talking about in a date kind of way at all :shakehead ). Part of what I've always loved about diving is the sociability of divers.

I usually find myself buddied up with a male diver, I think just because of the ratios on dive charters and the fact that, as has been commented on, most women divers tend to turn up with a buddy. I just make a point of crushing any embarassment and having a chat with my new buddy before the dive to subtely find out their level of experience, discuss hand signals a little bit, dive plan etc, and I always do a buddy-check - no matter how much my insta-buddy seems to be surprised by this.

It also tends to be a bit of pot luck on what my buddy's dive skills are like and sometimes I've been disappointed by having to finish a dive early, but I love just getting to dive as often as I can and meeting new people always tips me off about other great places to go diving.

Vix

 

[DiverBeth]

I've only been diving for about 2 years now. I've been lucky regarding BCs and wetsuits in the fit department. I've gone on a few trips with my LDS and been buddied with both men and women. More often men because more of the divers were men. The guys said they liked to dive with me and would dive with me anytime and we got along really well.

Lately, I've seen more women, most of the guys I've dived with are hard core divers and so are more and more of us gals. Conversations on the boat usually revolve around diving and we usually don't break up into groups along gender lines.

There are always going to be jerks who have their prejudices but I love the fact that more women are diving and as more women do I think the industry will cater a little more to us in what they have to offer. After all our money is just as good.

 

[nessum]

This is not always true. I laughed my ***** off about three weeks ago at an Angeles baseball game because when I went to the restroom there was this long line coming out of the mens room, and there was no line at the womens room. Of course that was the first time I have ever seen that.

This applies to hockey games as well. It's a nice change to walk past a winding line for the men's room on my way to the women's room which is wide open. Though... a little disappointing to see that there aren't as many female fans around here as I thought.

 

[Texasdivechick]

Ladies,

I have been a diver since 1992 and totally love the sport. When I was certified, I would guess the ratio of men to women divers was probably about 100-1.

Since the I am thrilled to see the increase in women divers, those who truly enjoy the sport.

In 2002 I was diagnosed with a non-malignant brain tumor and it was removed on Dec 2004. It was very important for me to continue diving, which I do, with precautions. I did a lot of research prior to starting to dive after surgery, and of course all my questions were directed to men both in the medical field and SCUBA field.

There were no definitive answers, so I went by trial and error with the help of some great dive experts.

This lead me to become an insider tender at the re-compression chamber on Bonaire (I am also a licenced nurse). I have treated both male and female divers in the chamber.

I want to further my research and understanding, so I pose these questions...

What do you think the biggest differences in diving are between men and women? Is it the gear? Do you prefer to dive with a man or a women? Do you feel "discriminated against" because you or a women diver? Do you feel you get more attention because you are a women diver?

Please feel free to chime in on any experiences, questions, subject matters that pertain to women in diving.

I am seriously considering putting together a seminar in November, just for women divers and would like to know issues that are not addressed as often or not at all, and try and educate ourselves in women in diving.

Thanks.

Liz

Hey Liz,
I think you were the one working the chamber on Bon when my buddy got bent in April. As a woman diver, I can't really comment on much of the physiological differences, except maybe SOME women may be more safety oriented and dive more conservatively than SOME men. That's such a generalization though. Perhaps women have more physical issues, such as menstruation and effects of pressure on cysts that men don't have to deal with. It's an interesting area of study.
BTW, I would definitely like to see prettier dive gear and have wet suits that come in colors other than black! :blinking: I would love to design pretty hoods/ beanies to help us keep our hair back when diving. I find my mask leaks when a strand of my long hair breaks the seal. That is personally one of the biggest issues I face that my guy buddies don't have to worry about!

 

[Texasdivechick]

I wouldn't be surprised if we try harder than the guys do to be completely self-sufficient, in order not to look or feel incapable or dependent.

The whole five days I was in SoCal, I seethed every time I had to ask anybody to help me move the 130s around. Then, the last day, radinator says to me, "I have to hand it to you, schlepping around those big tanks!" (He'd been the guy having to lift them to the concrete wall all day so I could get into them.) I felt bad about needing any help; he was impressed I could do as much as I did. Totally different perceptions of the exact same thing.

LOL! I know what you mean! When my guy friend (who wasn't diving) met me on the dock after a night dive, he was immediately trying to get all of my gear off of me, lifting up my tank, etc.... I know he was trying to be nice, but really, I CAN lift all of my own gear! And please.... I had to tell him.... DON'T touch my tanks!
Part of it comes from a sense of responsibility: If you choose to dive, then you take the responsibility for the gear. Think of the analogy of Do the crime, do the time!

 

[NorthWoodsDiver]

In my area there is easilly 20 male divers to 1 woman diver which kinda sucks when you are looking for a female counterpart who is into diving but I can complain about the women here. They are all able to carry their gear but I have found that when a group of us dive everyone just takes gear and starts carrying so they all do their part.

The only thing I would mention is it seems that women are more cautious and conservative. If I dive to 100 ft she would rather stay above 80 ft but I know thats just a personal choice and I have no issue with peoples prefrences.

 

[diver 85]

After 30 something years diving, I believe the biggest difference between men and women diving is knowledge of limitations and making wise decisions based on that knowledge. Want to guess wich gender?!

Hoa!

The males do tend to throw their egos around, just ask us, & my wife is the perfect buddy, just ask me...........btw, in '85 we I got certified, the ratio was different in my OW class ie 2 to 1 female vs male(my wife, daughter and myself)......

 

[dvrliz1]

Hey Liz,
I think you were the one working the chamber on Bon when my buddy got bent in April. As a woman diver, I can't really comment on much of the physiological differences, except maybe SOME women may be more safety oriented and dive more conservatively than SOME men. That's such a generalization though. Perhaps women have more physical issues, such as menstruation and effects of pressure on cysts that men don't have to deal with. It's an interesting area of study.
BTW, I would definitely like to see prettier dive gear and have wet suits that come in colors other than black! :blinking: I would love to design pretty hoods/ beanies to help us keep our hair back when diving. I find my mask leaks when a strand of my long hair breaks the seal. That is personally one of the biggest issues I face that my guy buddies don't have to worry about!

Hi Shannon...yep that was me, in the chamber! Anyway, which is actually a whole different subject....over the last 2 years I have seen both women and men in the chamber. Now understand this is based only on MY experiences, but it's pretty close as to suspected reasons for DCS..normally dehydration induced for both sexes, then come exercised induced DCS. I have to tell you though, I have NEVER seen a women who has said "I've don't know how this happened, I've been diving 5 times a day all my life. I started 20 years ago. I DO have to say, I definitely see more men divers who are in DENIAL of their ages, weight gain and general metabolism slowdown. A large amount of the men I have seen in the chamber get bent by what I call "Machoism DCS" (ok, start pelting guys).

It generally goes like this....I'm in the chamber, we have just come to depth, O2 mask off...the diver says "I don't know how this happened...followed by...but my computer said.... followed by.... but I have a very conservative computer. Then I hear, I've been diving since I'm 25 (or whatever young age), and doing 4-5 dives a day. I've dive all over the world, and I know what I am doing. What he has not realizing is that he has aged 25 or so years, he has gained 40 or so pounds (I don't want to get into the "weight has nothing to do with DCS studies"...I'm just going by what I have encountered as a chamber nurse and I think it does, in combination with other things) and his general metabolism has slowed. There is general denial as to what actually may have caused the DCS...hence the "machoism".

Now this is not to say I haven't had a women say this. I did, though her's was exercised induced. She said the first 3 things in the paragraph above. Difference was we were able to figure out what caused it (I don't get into details...patient privacy), and they tend to say ah-ha....I get it now.

I guess my point is this. I don't think diving affects men that much more differently then women, in general. When all were bent, all had similar or same symptoms for the type of bends they had. We treated them all exactly the same, though it took the guys a few more chamber dives to get back to normal (this is probably because of the severity of the bends, the severity of women bent was not as bad as the men...hummmm another study)....I think a HUGE difference is the attitude and characteristics of male versus female divers.

On a positive note....on Bonaire our frequency of bends 2006-2007 season was extremely low....as far a I am aware...less than 10 the whole season.

Of course as always, IMHO....

Liz