Showing posts with label manufacturers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label manufacturers. Show all posts

The 1 Thing All Women have in Common

20 March 2009 Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,


The one thing all women have in common: XX chromosones.


That's it...that's all. Other than that, we're all pretty individual.


I'm a female in the scuba world who likes land excursions. I don't want to dive five dives per day for seven days. I want two dives per day and an afternoon in the jungle. Or maybe five dives one day and the Mayan ruins the next.


Does that mean ALL women want land time? No.


One of my diving friends only dives tropical. She won't brave the chillier waters of the Puget Sound, no matter what I've tempted her with. It's too cold and the gear is too heavy.


Does that mean ALL women want to dive tropical and look at brightly colored fishies? No.


We're as different amongst ourselves as each of the sea creatures we gaze upon. And while the dive manufacturers have discovered that we exist, we are still seen as 1.


We don't all want pink on our BCD's and wetsuits. Though some of us do.


We don't all have a size 8 hips, chest and torso. Though some of us do.


Even amongst the size 8's, we are not the same.


The manufacturers who market to us are starting to come around. We'll know we've arrived as female divers when the "female specific" lines become a little more "female general" and see us as separate and uniquely built consumers who don't all fit into 1 mold.

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Scuba Barbie?

27 October 2008 Labels: , , , , , , , , ,


This past week was DEMA 2008. The industry convention where money is traded among the dive empires to offer new gear, travel and clothing to the masses.


I was there as an editor for XRay Magazine. (Love press badges!!) My assignment? What’s new and exciting in the world for GirlDivers?


It was this simple question that I posed to the seated gatekeepers at the front of the major equipment manufacturer displays. The two unsuspecting parties would look at each other, as if I were speaking Swahili, and repeat,”New and exciting for GirlDivers?”


After usually being redirected several times to any sales representative not protected by a meeting with a dealer, I would be shown a pink mask…a pair of pink fins or a BCD with a decidely male cut…oh, but it’s got pink trim!!


Really? Is that all it takes to sell us gear? Pink?


Now, I realize, my site is pink. And if you’ve gotten this far, you’re probably either a pink fan, or wondering if the rosiness of the site ever ends. But for this site, it’s a marketing thing. You know you’re on a “girl-focused” site because of the color. It’s a draw.


However, if the content of this site was just “general scuba”, well, then you might as well change the site colors back to basic black. The inner workings of the site, or the dive gear, must be true to the colors, or it’s just another attempt to fool us into thinking they care.


There were well over 500 vendors at DEMA. I was able to complete my assignment and find 6 things new and exciting in the dive world for girls. Stay tuned to XRay Magazine where the November issue will show the newest finds for girls.

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