I wonder what impact a negative body image among women may steer them away from sports involving swimwear? We tend to want to blame men, male behavior, chauvinism, and military-like dive training for turning women away from the sport. Could it be that men have very little to do with it and that women are mostly influenced by the media and social pressures regarding body image?
I don't know how much I've seen men and issues related to them blamed for the lower presence of women in scuba diving, to be honest. As a woman who happens to work with many obese women for a living, I'll offer two things. First, there are comparatively few women (including those of normal weight) who are interested in sport-oriented activities, or any activity that is very physically oriented. I do full lifestyle assessments on hundreds of people and it continues to shock me how few of either gender care to be physically active any more; it's worse for women than men in my experience. I try every day to encourage more of them into a more active way of life, not just for physical health but for emotional health.
One thing we're up against in the diving world is that the tendency in the general population over these last few decades has been toward a more sedentary way of living. This is in part because as the average weight increases, decreasing mobility and increasing pain result in decreasing interest in doing things that involve being physically active (which would fix the problem, I know -- believe me, I know). But another reason for the decrease in activity is that there are, in the last couple of decades, so many more enticements to remain stationary (talking to you Internet, computers, mobile devices, and social media). The people born in the last 30 years have grown up in a completely different world than the one remembered by those of us who are mid-forties or older. For some time now, there has been declining social emphasis on physical activity in general, let alone an activity like diving which requires an unusual amount of overhead, effort, and special equipment to pursue.
The second thing I'll offer is that Trace is absolutely right about body image and aversion to swimwear being an issue. I don't know if I'd call it THE reason women don't tend more toward diving, but it is certainly a reason of note. Most women I talk to just don't do anything that involves getting in swimwear, period. They're reluctant even to don swimwear so that they can get into the pool at their local health club. And this isn't just the overweight women I work with; the ones of normal or only minor overweight aren't much better. It gets a little better if they anticipate being seen only by other women (less fear of being judged); if they anticipate being seen by men, game over.
Obviously, there are exceptions to both of these observations but they do hold up for an unfortunate majority, in my experience.
---------- Post added December 24th, 2013 at 08:31 AM ----------
I've worked in the industry for 16 years. I owned a dive store for 7 years, I was a rep for DAN for 7 years (I probably tried to visit your place in Dunn) and I was the director of marketing for a dive travel wholesaler for 4 years. (Did I say that already?) I'm in the game, you're warning is too late. My last two bosses were on the DEMA board of directors. I know DEMA isn't popular here, but I know how hard they work to promote the industry.
Hi Julie, your statement above has me curious. True enough that DEMA isn't popular here, and for reasons that lots of people are happy to share in great detail. I don't have any connection to or dealings with DEMA other than to hear what other people say about it, so I am curious about what you believe -- specifically, please -- that DEMA is doing well, and what, if anything, you believe they could be doing differently that would improve their support of diving and add to its stability as a sport and industry?
