Why are more men inclined to dive?

[undefined]

Relationships are about compromise.

Yes they are. The wife and I have a perfectly balanced give/take relationship.

She takes - I give.

And if she reads this post on Scubaboard she is likely to take a lot more and give a whole lot less....

 

[tedj01]

Whenever I say it front of her to someone; she just nods and says "As God intended".

ps. Everything else being equal, I'll always choose the woman/girl to dive with over a man/boy/macho guy.

 

[TSandM]

We have 2 LDS very close to each other in Va. Beach, & where I have no problems in either shop, my wife likes the newer shop that is more open, painted with brighter colors.

I wonder if there is something to this. The LDS I mentioned that has such a high percentage of women is the most attractive dive shop I've set foot in yet. Cheerful paint, pretty carpet, lots of inventory attractively displayed. In contrast, one of the other dive shops I occasionally visit resembles nothing more than the garage of somebody with a DIY bent. Concrete floors, no color, and bits and pieces of disassembled gear everywhere. Heaven for a technical gearhead, but a bit off-putting for the rest of us . . .

 

[H2Andy]

i think women definetely pay more attention to the "ambiance" of a place; it's part of the experience

at least judging by my wife. i could care less what a restaurant looks like as long as the food is good. she won't go to some excellent restaurants because they look like dives (which they do)

 

[undefined]

H2Andy,

Our wives are exact opposites. My wife hates fancy places but loves most of the dives that I like to eat at. The worse the place looks the better the food, or so she says

 

[drbill]

I'm not married to any of my dive buddies, although if I were a polygamist and could afford it on my "salary" I'd marry them all!

 

[almitywife]

I'm not married to any of my dive buddies, although if I were a polygamist and could afford it on my "salary" I'd marry them all!

hubby says "tell dr bill i'll dive with him but marriage is out"

I wonder if there is something to this. The LDS I mentioned that has such a high percentage of women is the most attractive dive shop I've set foot in yet. ........... .

i have 2 shops nearby. one which is run as a very good business, is busy, sometimes messy, they stock the basics and not the pretty/gimmicky stuff but always hetic with divers & spearos and owned by guys

shop 2 (where i started out) is set up very pretty, has those bits and pieces the newbies go nuts for but the oldies look at and shake our heads and has a very high newbie turnover (no one stays there for long) and is owned by a woman. this dive shop has a terrible rep for her money hungry, pressure selling ethos.

1st shop gets the divers in and and stay

2nd shop gets the divers in and within months they leave and usually end up at the shop #1

so although shop 2 is far more attractive on the surface they lack in many other ways (i do notice the older guys tend to stay there for longer... maybe old guy-pretty gal/shop syndrome)

 

[undefined]

Don't you all realize than women divers aren't shallow - the go deeper.

 

[MelC]

Mel, please don't set the bar too high on spelling here...we all have chalajez there! I think I hit the "edit" key the most.:no

Fair enough. But if webjr wants to own the superiority complex that is being a male chauvinist pig he needs to make sure he can spell it first. Otherwise we ladies might forced out of the laundry room to take charge.

Mel C.

 

[crazyTomato]

Well, how about another factor to consider?

The will to explore. Is it more instilled in men than in women? The need to see over the next hill, past the next river, look beyond the horizon, go into space...is this drive deeper in men?

For example: It's the early 1800's and 10 men and 10 women are in St. Louis. If a poll were taken, how many women vs men would vote to go west? The dangers of heading to California were well known, but I suspect the men ignored the risk (or had the "it can't happen to me" syndrome) and the women were thinking "cold, starvation, indians, disease, no shopping, etc). It is not that they were less interested in the land, the wealth, the new beginning but perhaps, the drive (motivation) factor may have been less...they probably went for the very same reasons some women try diving today...because they supported their men's dreams; not because it was their idea. Men, in general, are not capable of the same level of support on subjects they don't do themselves...don't know why. Our need to see over the next hill can get men into trouble with their SO's...especially if that hill is another woman!

Diving may be the "threshold" sport for women in relationships with men. Golf, tennis, mountain biking, etc are all pretty standard for M/F involvement. But diving? Every trip in is a new exploration with a lot of time and energy needed to make it work. Maybe this is where the line often gets drawn?

No, I wouldn’t say that the drive is deeper in men vs. women. I’d say look at the socialization process of what is considered acceptable for either gender. When you cite men as explorers, that’s not an accurate statement at all. Women were simply not allowed to step beyond the doors the way men were allowed to. If we think it’s difficult for women to scuba dive, can you imagine how it must have been like to explore back then ?????????

As for your poll, technically you'd be correct on how it would come out in terms of men saying they'd want to go west vs. women. But that's not a really fair statement to make. Look at the time period you chose. 1800??? It wasn't considered acceptable for women to want beyond marriage, kids, being a housewife and so on. For a woman to confess that she wanted to explore, she'd definitely be considered an odd bird out. Even if she wanted to explore, would she have been able to do so without a significant level of shunning and marginalization from the society? They did not welcome women who traveled alone. They would have called her quite a few names and thought that something was wrong with her. Even if she was brave enough to do it on her own, where would she have been able to earn an income to allow her to move alone? Women did not have their own money at all.

As for men not being supportive on subjects that their SO does……well…, maybe it’s because the way you’re raised to not think beyond yourself? I find that pretty common in men but not in women. Doesn’t mean that women are more altruistic. It just shows that men are allowed to get away with men being men, whereas with women, they’re socialized to think beyond themselves. Kind of depressing if you think about it, at least for me. I’d want my SO to be supportive and actually care about my activities, and not just vice versa. But, when you say men are not “capable”, that’s not true at all. They are capable. It’s just how you were raised to view your relationships and the world at large.

As for your last statement, I disagree. Look at TSandM…..she has that drive, the willingness…..but then again, she has a tremendous amount of self confidence to be able to do it, the money to do it, and the time to do it. Women do want to do it. They just have a lot of emotional barriers to overcome their socialization of how they’re viewed in doing certain activities. I couldn’t imagine doing this way back. The few women who did scuba dive, I have to commend them. It took a lot of courage for them to do it.

Anyway, bottom line, men are not more driven. It’s all cultural. I really hate that line….men being more adventurous and so on. It just makes me want to scream!