How women measure up as divers compared to men

[Thalassamania]

Actually I was initially interested in the instrument as a potential way of accessing the damage that divers do to a reef. Then I got to thinking about what an ANOVA might yield, in terms of bock effects, possible significance due to: age, sex, height, weight, BP/w, BCD, Split-fins, Jet-Fins, long hose, AIR-II, if the instrument were any good and widely applied (by evaluators who were cross-correlated) it might be both very interesting and amusing.

 

[Dr Dog]

that is not what this thread is about
this thread is about what gender is IN the suit



very interesting article to read, somehow it makes a lot of sense

And that is what I meant, I do not look at gender when diving. What do you think I meant?

When I got into this, my instructor told me not to try and keep up with a female, they will kick my ass in grace, trim, and consumption, and so far; he was right

 

[dumpsterDiver]

In my experience.. the worst: Cops..... male cops.. the ones who have not yet figured out how to dive, but are too macho to ask for help or to express fear or apprehension before it becomes debilitating.

I've found that most women are the opposite.. they will ask for help when they need it and they tend not to recklessly put themsleves in situations they can't handle.

The second worst divers (after newby cops) are women... the ones who really don't want to dive but their SO made them do it and they are physically weak and unmotivated and are completely dependent..

I find the whole premise kinda funny: Diving ability as a function of sex.. I can probably identify 15 OTHER characteristics which are going to be more highly correlated with success then the type of genitals a diver has.

 

[TSandM]

Well, I suppose it's conceivable that a well-performed study that showed that men have more trouble with buoyancy control could be translated into training for instructors to focus more on buoyancy control for men, but that would assume that instructors cared about buoyancy control at all in the first place Similarly, knowing that women do better with natural navigation than men do (which wouldn't surprise me, as there are studies on land showing differences in use of navigational cues between the genders) could allow instructors to understand they have to work harder on natural nav with male students, and perhaps a bit more on the compass work with women.

I can see value to the study. I can also see inherent bias; but who among us has ever made the effort to design and perform a good scientific study where we truly didn't care what the results were?

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I could find some plausibility in this navigation theory ... Cheng was always a better underwater navigator than me, despite the fact that on land she could get lost on her way home from work ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Thalassamania]

I've been involved in lots of work where I cared very much about getting an answer, but did not have any investment in which answer turned out to be the correct one.

 

[boulderjohn]

I can see value to the study. I can also see inherent bias; but who among us has ever made the effort to design and perform a good scientific study where we truly didn't care what the results were?

I've been involved in lots of work where I cared very much about getting an answer, but did not have any investment in which answer turned out to be the correct one.

That's what I meant. Yes, you can care about the results very much, but it shouldn't matter to you how it turns out.

In this case, since there really is no practical benefit achieved by the results, the the "who cares?" question matters. Why would someone put forth this much time and effort for something that ultimately doesn't matter?

It is suggestive of bias, implying to a reviewer that the person doing the study might be emotionally invested in a specific result.

Believe me, I have seen many "research" proposals where the conclusions were clearly in place before the methodology was determined

 

[drydiver]

When I first got into diving my male buddy said something that has stuck with me "Diving is the ultimate male/female team activity, where one is physically inferior, the other is superior, with the combined team resources, a mixed team has advantages." He was referring to strength and air consumption, but some other complimentary attributes mentioned here may apply as well...

 

[mdax]

My wife is the best dive buddy I've ever had. We've trained and been diving together for over 12 years and there is no one else I'd go with into a new, silty cave. No subclass in my book....but she's mine, and we try not to dive with other people.

 

[LowVizWiz]

Agreed! Women are better divers.

I always like having a buddy that has more air ( or gas ) than I have.

Men always, always, always have more gas; women always have more air!