‘Taking Away The Male Gaze’: Some Women Want To Keep Wearing Masks Indefinitely

 A number of women have come forth asserting they would prefer to keep wearing masks, even after the general public has discarded them, with some of the women offering explanations such as a mask functions as an “invisibility cloak” or acts “almost like taking away the male gaze.”

The women who preferred keeping masks were interviewed by The Guardian, which reported some of these comments:

“I don’t want to feel the pressure of smiling at people to make sure everyone knows I’m ‘friendly’ and ‘likable.’ It’s almost like taking away the male gaze. There’s freedom in taking that power back.”

“Maybe it’s because I’m a New Yorker or maybe it’s because I always feel like I have to present my best self to the world, but it has been such a relief to feel anonymous. It’s like having a force field around me that says ‘don’t see me.’”

“It’s a common consensus among my co-workers that we prefer not having customers see our faces. Oftentimes when a customer is being rude or saying off-color political things, I’m not allowed to grimace or ‘make a face’ because that will set them off. With a mask, I don’t have to smile at them or worry about keeping a neutral face. I have had customers get very upset when I don’t smile at them. I deal with anti-maskers constantly at work. They have threatened to hurt me, tried to get me fired, thrown things at me and yelled ‘f*** you’ in my face. If wearing a mask in the park separates me from them, I’m cool with that.”

“I appreciated that I felt a bit more anonymous in a mask and more gender ambiguous. After lockdown ended, it was confronting to go out and be exposed to all that offhand racism, sexism and misgendering from strangers again … Sometimes when I’m just going out to grab takeaway, I’ve enjoyed keeping the mask on even though it’s not really necessary here now.”

“I just stare at that little box with my face in it and pick apart my appearance. My double chin seems six times larger, my eye bags are too deep of a purple, etc … Even when there’s a heatwave and my apartment is close to 90 degrees, I’ll wear a turtleneck that I can pull up. I pack on thick makeup that makes my skin peel. I 10,000% plan on wearing it for the foreseeable future. After a full work day of worrying and not being able to focus on my actual job, it just feels nice to blend in. Simply put, I’m sick of being perceived.”

An article in Inside Hook stated, “Of course, a mere face covering isn’t going to deter the more dedicated cat-callers and unwanted attention-givers among us. After all, the lips may be the vagina of the face or whatever, but suffice to say cat-callers still have plenty of other material to work with even if the mouth and chin remain out of sight.”

Veronica Hays of Newsbusters commented, “Persistent mask-wearing even without the presence of health risk is indulging fragile, poorly-adjusted individuals to remain so. The dependency of those who are not eagerly awaiting the unmasking of America is irrational. Personal insecurities are preventing people from surrendering the mask as well as addressing and overcoming internal issues which create this reliance. Mask-wearing is fostering a sense of general distrust between and among individuals, and in this case, is being used by feminists as another way to demonize men.”