The meaning of the mask: Ambivalent social identity and mask refusal in COVID America

Abstract

This article will consider the medical face mask as both an accessory and a protective barrier utilizing embodied dress theory. The face mask is now a symbol of ambivalent social identity, and centrally, the anxiety of who the mask is protecting – who is the ‘sick one’ here? This anxiety turned to powerful backlash against this small, but key piece of the personal protective equipment (PPE) and against public health mandates ruling masks must be worn in certain settings. This article will examine the mask-refusal movement in the United States to unpick the roots of this backlash, breaking new ground through utilizing key studies on cultural memory in America to propose that its origins come from an active belief in the ‘rugged individualism’ of the American psyche borne from the myth of the frontier spirit which runs through American collective consciousness underpinned by masculine ideologies. This article will suggest that with the reaction to the face mask, we see further evidence that dressing oneself is an everyday embodied practice which has high stakes during a deadly global pandemic. The article suggests practices and activities that fashion and dress scholars could engage in to actively use embodied dress theory in the future research to develop public health policies based on solidarity and empathy and design masks we will want to wear.