On May 14 2020 one hundred of the world’s top academics penned a letter to U.S. governors urging them to ‘require cloth masks to be worn in all public places, such as stores, transportation systems, and public buildings.’ By this time the United States had long already been world-leader in COVID-19 cases. The #MASKS4ALL campaign looked to decrease transmissibility and therefore dramatically reduce the already-devastating death-toll.
One computer forecasting model claimed that if 80 per cent of Americans wore public masks the infection rate would ‘plummet‘ — a recommendation the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention had advocated since the start of April.
Public mask wearing — including ‘a piece of cloth, a scarf, bandana, t-shirt, or paper towel’ — was hot on the global public health agenda. One major demographic, however, had trouble fashioning this expert advice: men.
A Gallup poll from mid-May showed that only 29 per cent of men ‘always’ wore a mask outside their home, compared to 44 per cent of women. Majority of men sampled (38 per cent) further reported never wearing masks (compared to 25 per cent of women). This reporting seems almost nonsensical when factoring in that men are more likely to have worse symptoms and die from coronavirus. One study looked to probe the ‘messaging and gender on intentions to wear a face covering to slow down COVID-19 transmission.’ It found that men were more likely to self-report negative emotions when wearing a face covering: finding it ‘shameful, not cool, a sign of weakness, and a stigma’.
‘Another sign that toxic masculinity kills,’ wrote Arwa Mahdawi for the Guardian, ‘the fact that a significant number of men (including Donald Trump) think masks make them look weak is yet another reminder of how damaging gender stereotypes are. The pressure to seem tough doesn’t just prevent men from wearing masks, it prevents them from expressing their emotions and seeking help for mental health problems’.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen men struggling with population-based behaviour change.
'Men should want to wear masks, carry reusable bags, and consider the implications of their diets, not because it fits into some fragile and imaginary idea of what masculinity looks like, but because it’s the right thing to do. Men should want to care, and we should expect them to.'
Last year a study declared that men were less likely to recycle or bring reusable shopping bags because they feared it would make them ‘look gay.’ Much like mask wearing, making the world a little greener was deemed a weakness, something contradictory to their idea of manhood. Viral tweets like ‘Wear a mask. It’s patriotic, manly and the right thing to do‘ by Douglas Emhoff (husband to former Democratic Presidential Candidate, Kamala Harris) quickly start making sense.
An appeal to masculinity seems like an easy fix. If men aren’t doing something because it’s supposedly gay or girly, convince them that it’s actually incredibly masculine. This is a popular strategy utilised by emerging beauty and makeup brands — something I’ve written about before — where ads will feature hyper-masculine bodies and hyper-militizarised language to dispel any lingering stench of femininity.
The Netflix ‘go-vegan!’ documentary, The Game Changers, is another example. The film showcases interviews from elite athletes and special ops soldiers who speak to the benefits vegan diets have had in their training. A variety of cherry-picked studies (of questionable validity) are peppered into the programming and have spurred much media attention. One claimed that vegan diets can help boost erections.
The film finds success by appealing to men’s interest in muscle mass, masculinity and member-size — over and above tired vegan values, such as animal welfare, climate change, morality or ethics. After all, sustainable living, environmentalism and care for the planet is largely feminised. But this then points to a dangerous aspect of gender… If to care is feminine, is to care only for oneself masculine? As women are rigorously primed to believe that they must put others needs first for the collective good (wear a mask, bring a bag), men are continually sold the idea that their behaviours should be for the sole benefit of themselves (#kalegains).
But is it so wrong to play into men’s already fragile sense of masculinity and manhood? If the net benefits are the same (a cleaner, greener environment, a dampened pandemic) shouldn’t we continue nudging our men with arcane ideas of what it really means to be a man? Should we continue growing a nation of vegan bros?
This sets a precedent. Arguably a harmful one. Because by appealing to a mighty sense of individualism and leaning into traditionally toxic aspects of masculinity, we are further entrenching and normalising a set of behaviours, values and attitudes that work directly against our common goals.
Last year family violence advocacy group, OurWatch, published ‘Men in focus’ an extensive review of global research around masculinities which aimed to build a deeper understanding and offer guidance for those working with men and boys. The report’s analysis found that ‘attachment to a rigid set of ideals about masculinity — dominance, control, risk-taking, hypersexuality, heterosexuality, stoicism, aggression — is associated with a range of harmful behaviours, including violence against women.’
At a time when groups such as OurWatch are looking at behaviour change tactics to prevent family violence, ones that resist dominant and damaging ideals around masculinity, an appeal to these same ideals would only undermine such fundamental efforts.
Men should want to wear masks, carry reusable bags, and consider the implications of their diets, not because it fits into some fragile and imaginary idea of what masculinity looks like, but because it’s the right thing to do. Men should want to care, and we should expect them to.
This ultimately calls for a radical reimagination of masculinity away from dominant and abrasive ideals that carve undue pressures in men to act and behave in certain ways. Masculinity is fragile because it’s constantly being threatened, by cloth around a face or a ban on single-use plastic. If we agree that caring for each other, ourselves and the planet is a human condition — one unplagued by traditional formulations of gender — then it’s time we stopped pandering to these ridiculous threats. Behaviours can be changed, but only by the standards we set for them. Masculinity can be changed, but only by the standards we imagine for it.
Dejan Jotanovic is a freelance writer based in Melbourne, whose words spin around feminism, gender theory, queer history, policy and pop culture. Flick him at a tweet at @heydejan.
Main image credit: Illustration Chris Johnston