Diving with men

[GQMedic]

Jen,

Ok, brow beat me with that awesome RMV that I only WISH I had! *chuckle* I've yet to have a 2:00 bottom time. Hmm, I guess I'll look into getting a HP 1000 or something! *chortle*

scuba_jenny once bubbled...

And that's a good thing... coming from a female diver.

I like diving with the guys for the most part. I have had more male buddies than female. Each and every buddy has had a unique style, some get cold easily, some like to collect fish.... One of my current male dive buddies did a 2 hour dive with me! Talk about good bottom time!

 

[diverbrian]

Jersey once bubbled...


See what I missed! I can just see guys lockers full of 'girl stuff' for shining shoes... I am always impressed by common sense & ingenuity - traits that are far too uncommon! People seem to have lost the ability to think on for themselves. I am always trying to learn new things - keeps me interesting.

Most the guys that didn't know were writing frantic letters home to have their moms, sisters, or SO's send these things to them in a "care package." I was third generation military so I already knew other tricks as well. But, I thought that I would mention something that didn't make all of some like emasculated idiots and still respectful.

 

[AbuK]

Some of this thread almost reaches the point of vitriol.

My rule is the same for diving as it is for life. Doesn't matter whether your male or female, black or white, muslim or hindu, french or mogolian, if you're good company I'll enjoy spending time with you, going out whatever.

It's all surely dependent on the individual, the only weird aspect to it is diving with someone who you get on with socially but turns out to be a single minded *** the first time you go under water, the type that expects you to follow all the time never looks back and can't hear a bloody thing 'cos they're wearing a tight hood and those ear cups!

 

[kingdiver]

divemistress once bubbled...
A new friend, a guy, invited me to dive with him this weekend, but I'm kind of worried since I've never been diving with men buddies.

Some of the posts I've read in this section (by men!) make men divers sound like awful buddies: pushy, aggressive, bossy, air hogs, etc. I swear, they sound like a different species!

Plus I hear men buddies get freaked out by little things -- like if you don't like getting so cold that your vital organs freeze. Or if you take a few minutes to, you know, center yourself before a dive, instead of being the first person off the boat. And if they see a Tampax in your bag -- like the one you forgot to put away when your period ended last week -- they're sure they're shark bait!

So, should I give men divers a chance? Or should I tell this guy I've already got plans -- with the girls?

Thanks!

Now this cracks me up!! you have got to be kidding me???

Femi-**** Brigade or what? This is the 21st century, not Gloria Steinham's 1970's.

Sheesh!!

 

[SueMermaid]

divemistress once bubbled...
A new friend, a guy, invited me to dive with him this weekend, but I'm kind of worried since I've never been diving with men buddies. ....snip

Am I the only one that sees this post for what it is? A joke? (or a troll?)
And yes, Zen, it does sound just as ridiculous coming from a woman than it does from a man. I meant it then, and I still mean it now.

 

[divemistress]

i am NOT a troll.

dm

 

[theslyfox01]

Your either a troll or your weirddddd

 

[kingdiver]

I say I think,

I think I say,

I say I think nobody comes to this Thread to Be mellow now do ya??!!

 

[etype]

well, i agree 100% with GQmedic. I am who i am and i don't let female expectations or opinion shape me. But on the other hand...lets face it...the sport of diving has an inordinate number of a$$h0les , but who could just as easily be females, except men predominate...much like computers and tech . And a lot of these individuals, even if they do know a lot about diving...know little about not being a jerk. And i think that is what this post was originally about. I find a high quotient of more advanced divers, usually men, seem to think they are excused from the normal expectation of politeness and respect for others. I see it a lot, a type of juvenile ignorance to other divers that one hasn't seen since the teen years. There is often a competitiveness about diving that is (imho) ugly.
However, they are the exception to the rule, which is most divers are gentlemen to thier inner depths. And i don't think anybody wouldn't say that this is the rule.


So my response to the original poster would be...your post insults men who are gentlemen as much as it insult men who are not. You may not have meant that...but if you did you really should look for a female buddy diver because there is no reason you should expect consideration or respect from men...especially since your predisposed to think the worst of them.

 

[BacardiSpice]

Ah - being new here, and without knowing much about the personalities involved, I took the initial post as a joke...a response to the thread earlier down titled 'Diving with women' and posing a question or two about women divers that females found amusing and perhaps just a bit insulting (even though, to the poster, they were honest concerns). I didn't think that the 'concerns' raised about diving with men were in earnest, but were rather a lighthearted way to respond to the aforementioned thread. But perhaps I'm wrong on all that, and the person that initiated all this could clarify it?

I don't consider gender issues when diving. I've had some fantastic dives with buddies of both genders. Where I did my initial training and the outfit I continued to dive with after certification, I was pretty much treated the same as the blokes were - and, if I'd stopped to think about it (which I don't think I did), I would have appreciated it. Sure, it meant I was hauling all my dive gear out the end of a loooong pier to the boat although my upper body strength, by virtue of my physical make up, was not the same as theirs. While the blokes on the boat were fantastic fun, they never offered assistance (although they were very obliging when asked for help). We were happy enough to let each other get on with it. If I didn't have some measure of self-sufficiency for the physical part of diving, what would I have been doing out there in the first place?

I've heard the usual gender stereotypical breakdown - that men want to dive deep and have a competitive edge in this (ostensibly) non-competitive sport, seething with machismo, whereas women get the vapours over a broken fingernail and do the tragic femme thing, a helpless act. The groups I dived with locally were pretty serious divers, and the divers I spent time with on liveaboards had travelled half way around the world to do some serious diving. The men weren't the type to fiddle around with proving their masculinity, and the women weren't the type to do the 'gurley' routine. It's not to say that folks of both types don't exist, but I wouldn't say they were remotely representative of their genders.

People are individuals. They should be judged on the content of their character, their abilities, their intersts, their skills. Not race, creed, colour - or gender.

I look forward to the day when discussions like this seem hopelessly old fashioned, and we can all just get on with it.