Sexism?

[victorzamora]

So, I asked my wife about this topic the other day. She claims she's run into one case of sexism. A female dive instructor in the Keys assumed she was an inexperienced diver diving with her boyfriend (a good friend) and he needed to watch her. He was very inexperienced, she was a much more competent diver....she had to help him assemble his BCD. Heck, my wife was better in the water than this instructor.

She said, and I was very intrigued, she's gotten more prejudice for being young. On our honeymoon (23 and 22), we went to the dive shop in Mx for some dive reservations. We were told that classes were scheduled to start in two days. Drove me bonkers. They automatically assumed that, because we were young we were new to diving. Drove her BATTY. She was on a mission to be the best looking diver that whole week. She was. After the first dive, multiple people commented on how awesome she looked. She wanted to go on a Wreck dive, but the depth was 95ft to the sand and she was told she needed her AOW cert. So, she signed up for the AOW cert and the instructor that automatically assumed "bad divers" when he saw us told me she was by FAR the easiest AOW student he'd ever had because she needed no work, and they didn't just pretend to do AOW. His PPB dive was pretty rigorous.

She's telling me that in cave country, she always gets "Are you diving?" when they don't see her with gear. It's NEVER a sexist thing. Nobody assumes she's just surface support (which she does a SPECTACULAR job of, btw). Everybody encourages her to start cave diving, against the will of my wallet, and they do so because she's a person who needs to see the beauty in those caves....not because we need more female cave divers, but because we need more CAVE divers.

When I see a woman gearing up, I tend to strike up a conversation with them. Same as with a guy.....I'm just an outgoing person. I tell them the same thing I tell most people: Let me know if you need anything. I've had a guy ask me for help lifting his scooter, and I've had a woman ask me for help picking something up she couldn't reach because she was in her rig already. Just an example of each. I really don't see a big difference there.

If you want to write an article on a severe minority in cave diving, I've met 2 of what I think are 4 black cave divers. I've also met, and gotten picked on by, an Asian Female cave diver....that's TWO minority groups right there. I still feel the biggest prejudice is against age, but I could be biased.

[tbone1004]

When I see a woman gearing up, I tend to strike up a conversation with them. Same as with a guy.....I'm just an outgoing person. I tell them the same thing I tell most people:

if that doesn't hit the nail on the head I don't know what else does!

Sam was hilarious when she called us out for all looking the same, I'm still rolling over that one....

[Ash]

Why do so many women choose female instructors? Are they being sexist? Or are they avoiding sexist male instructors?Men and women are different. If we are talking about diving or cave diving then it only matters if those differences apply underwater.

When searching for instructors, I don't specifically search based on gender of my instructor. Although, I could definitely see an advantage for a woman to have a female instructor for cave cert. I've only had male instructors (OW & cavern) and sometimes I don't feel like they can't relate to my gear problems as well as a woman would. They can recommend equipment based on what they have heard from other women about how certain pieces wear, but the ladies I've spoken with were a lot more insightful. Can't said I would look forward to asking my instructor about what type of p-valve he recommends for the ladies.

As for sexism while diving, I can't say that I've come across any. I do feel like men approach me more often than my boyfriend when we are out at dive sites...but that could just be the difference in our personalities. I mean, he looks just as good in a wetsuit as me haha.

[fishinmaniac]

I don't think sexism is a problem until someone tries to make it a problem. It's 2015...men and women do the same activities, its accepted and no one cares that women can do what men do and men can do what women do.

[rddvet]

I don't think sexism is a problem until someone tries to make it a problem. It's 2015...men and women do the same activities, its accepted and no one cares that women can do what men do and men can do what women do.

I disagree because that's a fairly myopic view. I think as a whole cave divers are a more educated group than the general population, and therefore we are slightly more forward thinking and less likely to be sexist.

The idea that nobody cares that women can do what men can do is just not true. I think compared to 1950 we're much more advanced in our thinking, but hang out with enough men with no women around (add some beers and some sort of sport) and you'll hear something a little different.

I think that's why as a whole you will see more sexism in the OW world than in technical diving. OW diving is open to "every man" more than expensive technical diving.

[jeandiver]

At our house, 50%.

I'll take 100%

[ams511]

Look at the industry as a whole. How many female cave instructors are out there? I am not picking on anyone in particular. I just have access to numbers from these agencies.

NACD, no female instructors. 0 out of 41 listed

http://www.nacdmembers.com/main/training/instructors/

NSS-CDS, 5 out of 51 listed

http://www.nsscds.org/instructorlist

GUE, Maybe 5 plus or minus, out of 138...its hard to tell by the name, so dont hold me to that.

http://www.globalunderwaterexplorers...ors/index.html

I think a good question to ask is, what barriers women face in becoming instructors? What percentage of cave divers are women?

Do you think that it should be 50/50? You can talk about how few women cave divers there are but as a percentage, how many women are sky divers, rock climbers, hunters, or other sports that have the reputation of being somewhat extreme?

[ams511]

Can't said I would look forward to asking my instructor about what type of p-valve he recommends for the ladies.

In case you get a rash it was already covered here: http://thedecostop.com/forums/showth...highlight=rash

[caveflyer]

Over the past few years I'd say the ratio of male to female in the OW recreational world has been about 50:50. It's nothing unusual to have OW classes with almost 50% female students and also to be on day boats with approximately the same - I think its difficult for sexism to survive in that environment. The tec/cave community we all know is a lot more male dominated, but as others have already noted you seem to get a certain amount of respect for diving at this level irrespective of your gender, at least that's been my personal experience. On the other hand sometimes it doesn't matter if there are 1000 women and only one guy, if he's the type inclined towards mysoginsim and sexism it's going to be evident. At least in the world of SCUBA once you have all your gear on you are readily identified as a "diver" - I've lost count of the times that I have had my airline "costume" on and it's just assumed that I'm a flight attendant, especially in Central and South America.....

[skip]

One of the zip line guides asked me if my wife had a nice p*ssy in Costa Rica (direct quote). Tact must get lost in translation. Wasn't sure if I should be mad or if a tourist told them an alternative meaning Of that....other than that they were very professional so who knows what they though they were saying or what was culturally appropriate. We could have chosen to be offended but we kinda figured it was a joke gone wrong.

they are not asking, they are making a statement. it's a compliment to you. "Dude, your wife is hot. You lucky dog you."

skip