We all started out as O/W students

[Badbunny]

Mercy,

I am an instructor for both PADI as well as the Alabama PSD course, so I see divers at all levels, both male and female. Great divers come in all ages and genders, as well as the reverse, the loudest and most critical are the ones who we end up retrieving, and the one who are putting you down probably don't know nearly as much as they would like for you to believe they do. We are lucky in my shop to have a couple of female instructors who I would put up against anyone in cave, tec or spearfishing - so ignore the idiots and enjoy your diving. I was certified in 1973, and I promise it is getting better!

 

[Johnny Mojo]

Mercy, sad to say this is not just diving, but just about any "male-dominated'" environment. The men will act the same whether it's diving, military service, mechanics, sports, motorcycles, home repair, guns, . . .

You can choose to take it personal, or accept that most of them don't have the self-confidence to deal with the fact that a woman might know what she is doing. By acceptance, you loose the irritation and frustration that will only color your own attitude. Also, once you accept that most men are like that, you will find it much easier to pick out the one or two 'gems' that stand on the sidelines and watch and admire. Those are worth your time.

Since you brought up military AND guns, how could I resist Actually, I taught some slightly advanced firearms training to Navy/Marine/and civilian law enforcement for several years. The split was probably 60% / 40% men to women. I ALWAYS had 2 or 3 rambo grunts (nothing against grunts, I was one) who could tell me how everything should be done in the class or some ex military guy who was new civil service and did it THIS way "back in the day". Trouble was, almost 100% of the time, these were the guys who couldn't hit the broad side of a barn with a broom, much less a Man sized K5 or steel in a simulated stressful situation. On the otherhand, I NEVER had a woman student who did not do well. As a matter of fact, I won several cases of beer betting on the women during the shoot out at the end of class. I saw exactly what Jax is describing a lot though and see it all of the time in the civilian world too.

To the OP, try not to let it get to you. You are right, we all started at the begining on this underwater journey. You will find as you get older that this will happen throughout life. Others cannot define you or your happiness. Live that and treat others with respect and the rest will come. There will always be jerks (male and female). I once heard them referred to as the shallow end of the gene pool. Made sense to me.

Hang in there Lady!

J.

 

[knowone]

I know there is something not right when I can position my pointer at the :sblogo: logo somewhere in my favorites bar when the screen is blank.

 

[aquaregia]

"Dude" is a sentence.

Sweet?

 

[aquaregia]

When someone's only response to your position is a criticism of your lack of diving experience and that person can come up with no other attack of your position it almost invariably means that you beat that person intellectually, and they are now resorting to a sort of appeal to authority.

In general I agree with you, but I've seen a few exceptions. Most of the time it's someone planning or reporting a dive that more experienced divers are uncomfortable with. The less experienced diver comes up with an "answer" that they feel solves the problem and the more experienced divers disagree, leading to an inevitable . Sometimes "that's not the way it's actually going to go down" isn't credible. You can look at threads where experienced divers reflect on, when still a novice, they did relatively risky diving that, knowing what they do now, they would not repeat. Most of us young'uns seem to do similar dive profiles, making excuses about how it'll be fine, despite the warnings. I'd rather use a concrete example, but I don't want to start anything

 

[Crush]

Most of the time it's someone planning or reporting a dive that more experienced divers are uncomfortable with.

That is where you cite the Fatalities section of the DAN Annual Diving Report.

Just because the revolver has five empty chambers and one loaded one doesn't mean that you will kill yourself the first time. However, someone has probably saved you from having to carry out the experiment yourself, if you only know where to look for the data.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

That is where you cite the Fatalities section of the DAN Annual Diving Report.

Just because the revolver has five empty chambers and one loaded one doesn't mean that you will kill yourself the first time. However, someone has probably saved you from having to carry out the experiment yourself, if you only know where to look for the data.

Unfortunately there's no listing in the Fatalities section of the DAN Annual Diving Report that lists deaths due to poor planning ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Crush]

Unfortunately there's no listing in the Fatalities section of the DAN Annual Diving Report that lists deaths due to poor planning ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Bob, I maintain this virtual list in my mind. It is a list entitled "people who always think that I am wrong and are always correct about this." The list had only one entry until I got married, at which point there were two entries. After joining SB I decided to add Sas to the list, and she approved - she was #3.

I just have decided to make a fourth entry in that list.

 

[knowone]

Walking through a desert I found an abundantly overflowing oasis and decided to drink.

:goingdown:

 

[Crush]

I was walking through a desert, found a full oasis, and decided to drink.

:goingdown:

"Magnificent." "Excellent." "Exquisite," passed from mouth to mouth and everyone was well pleased with knowone's posts.