White masks in public places: a prophylactic ritual in discordant cultural settings
Ellie Wakabayashi, MSc Candidate for Family Medicine and the Biomedical Ethics Unit
What is a mask? Is it just another piece of fabric or is it something more? What thought crosses your mind? Do you find people who wear masks strange? Did seeing a masked Asian individual make you feel scared? Do you examine the mask’s brand, pattern, and wonder if it is handmade before deciding whether the masked individual is a threat to your person? The whiteness of the medical mask stands out.
Selfie in the Montreal Metro taken by the author taken in 2019.
In 2019, pre-public health measures mandating medical masks in public, the concept of mask-wearing had a mixed response. For example, in multicultural contexts such as Montreal, Asians wearing masks could be spotted in Chinatown or on public transit. However, it would be rare if not impossible to spot a Caucasian wearing a medical mask in public. People who lived in Montreal knew about the weather reports on smog and air pollution but, only a select group of people took preventative measures to protect their lungs. Information on airborne diseases and protective tools were minimally presented. Air was just something to be breathed into. An essence to be inhaled without being filtered. Air quality and airborne diseases was trivial and inconsequential to most people’s lives. Hence, when someone did wear a white medical mask in public, it stood out. The mask-wearer was an irregularity in most Canadian cities where mask-wearing was not socially acceptable.
Mask-wearing in public has been mandated throughout episodes of world history. The largely forgotten 1918 flu pandemic killed between 20-40 million people around the world (1). This pandemic infected one third of the world’s population, and it was during this time that medical masks were introduced by governments as a prophylactic measure. Prophylactic measures are greater than simple preventative measures as it is a term taken to fend of a disease or another unwanted consequence. Indeed, countries that encourage social conformity and personal hygiene introduced mask wearing as a popular personal choice and encouraged it (2). Asian countries like Japan and China encouraged daily mask wearing and made this mask-wearing behavior not only socially acceptable but socially encouraged.
However, in Western countries, such as Canada, the same trend of mask wearing did not happen. Rather, words associated with someone wearing a mask are negative. Some examples of terms are sickness, contagion, transmission. Spaces or areas associated with the white mask might be emergency rooms, a horror movie, or an apocalyptic situation. Covering up one’s mouth with a mask can be interpreted as a mark of shame or “having something to hide” or keep away from others (3). Some hospitals have signs that read “Protect Yourself or Cough into your elbow” the messages reinforce the idea that the person wearing a mask is likely to be someone who is a “spreader” of sickness. It perpetuates the image that a mask-wearer is someone who is not part of the majority (i.e., part of the minority).
Hence, an Asian-mask wearer is sometimes stigmatized or will received unexpected inhospitality in western or European countries. The shock or disgust that some Asian mask-wearers have received from Europeans have been treated humorously. In Japan, for example, there are satirical cartoons which criticized the fear or panic they saw when they boarded public transit in Europe. Pairing humor and anti-discrimination can seem to be an unnatural pair. While humor can be employed as a short-term tool in dealing with incidents of racism, it is important to be caution that such images might contribute to normalizing the marginalization and discrimination of minorities. The quick change from harsh judgement towards public acceptance of mask wearing was only possible when the majority government and majority population decided that mask-wearing was not a minority practice.
Despite the misunderstanding and possible ridicule that it is sometimes met with, it has a ritualistic cultural function in addition to being a preventative measure. Wearing a medical mask in public is an identifying feature like a tattoo or a brand of sunglasses that can be interpreted differently based on the views and rationality of the cultural artifact. The act of wearing a mask is similar to wearing a cross or a rosary. It is a ritualistic symbol that conveys a belief system to those who see it. It is a is a cultural ritual that has its foundations in health beliefs. Indeed, rituals have various definitions, but in general, they can be understood as a performance centered around a core belief (4). When people fear something and want to protect themselves from, then it is not uncommon that they would develop specific rituals to have an intended outcome. Enacting a cultural ritual also consists of a social performance that takes on sacred or revered meanings. An excellent example of this is how, in Yantai, China’s Shandong Province, medical masks were stamped with temple seals, effectively rendering them into amulets (5). The medical mask with the stamp becomes a relic of the temple and is believed to be imbued with protective powers.
Investing in one’s health is a sign of solidarity. If mask-wearing is an expected and mandatory practice then, those who do not conform stand out. Those who do not wear masks in expected environments are stigmatized, to the point that they are shunned and blocked from entering shops and buildings. In Hong Kong, some tabloids have pictures on their covers shaming westerners for going against their health guidelines and not wearing a mask in public (2,5, 6). In Japan, not wearing a mask started to convey a sense that the individual was susceptible or naive, i.e., sukima darake, which translates to full of holes.
For example, changes to personal hygiene practices in Hong Kong during the 2003 SARS crisis, is an example of how medical masks were deployed as part of a collective response. Various news articles quickly circulated about social duty and citizen’s collective rather than individual purpose to advocate for good health. Mask-wearing quickly became the obligatory social ritual, failure to don one was met with righteous indignation, a clear sign of ritual violation (7). The mask symbolized a rule of conduct – namely an obligation to protect the wider community at a low personal cost. By disguising an individual’s face, it gave greater salience to collective identity.
Historically during the 1918 influenza, there was an expectation that everyone, including e in a high-risk area should wear proper protective equipment if they were at risk of catching or spreading the disease. Covering the face with a mask on purpose is a signal to others about the individual’s health-related beliefs and desire to not come into physical contact with others. Governments starting in the early 2000s promoted the concept that it can be better for public morale to be doing something rather than nothing. In retrospect, the various socio, political, and biological pressures that enforced the importance of taking responsibility for one’s health created a tipping point when masks both helped establish citizen’s role to protect their own health (7). With increasing awareness about airborne diseases more countries are adopting the mandatory mask-wearing policies. Because viruses are invisible to the naked eye and are incredibly hard to be fully protected against, the accompanying wider insecurity can lead to a breakdown of conventional, habitual practices and assumptions. Traditional methods such as washing hands can start to be undermined as mundane, inadequate responses to risk. As more individuals begin to wonder whether washing hands is enough, they may be more prone to want to wear the medical mask as an extra added security, especially since the act of wearing a medical mask does not appear to have any separately added danger to themselves.
Of course, wearing a medical mask is not just in response to a medical emergency in parts of Asia. Perfectly healthy teens sometimes wear surgical masks as a social accessory to have anonymity and also for cosmetic purposes (2, 9). Because of the ability to cover one’s face to have only the eyes showing, it is possible to use it as a tool for stage make up. In 2014, there was a makeup artist called Zawachin, who started a trend of “impersonation cosmetics” (10). Due to challenges of changes the jawline or lip shape, she would focus on eye makeup and hair to imitate celebrities such as all the members of One Direction (10) . Some youth who are insecure about their facial features wear masks as a way to create a physical wall between them and the rest of the world.
In conclusion, in western cultures, the image of Asian people with medical masks evokes expressions of fear, paranoia, or bewilderment (i.e., to signify an otherness). But for those who choose to wear the mask in public places, the act of wearing a mask is a gesture that communicates solidary during a time of fear. Pandemics are a time when it feels better to demonstrate that you are preventing the spread of disease and adhering to socially dictated rules. By wearing a mask, i.e., sacrificing the personal comfort of not having one’s breathing restricted, individuals can be interpreted as performing a ritual. Mask wearing in public symbolizes that they are aware of the virus outbreak and are taking responsibility for their health in a way that will lessen the burden towards others if they did become sick. To be safe from both the virus and the harsh gaze of others, an individual must express an assemblage of “expressive implications” about solidarity and conformity. The individual must act as a player in a ritual game who copes honourably or dishonourably, diplomatically or undiplomatically, with the judgmental contingencies of the situation (9). By repeatedly and automatically asking the question: ‘If I do or do not act in this way, will I or others lose face?’ each person can decide how to behave in a time of fear. Pandemics evoke behaviours that may appear irrational to outsiders. Perhaps in 20 years or so, certain countries that are facing exceedingly high mortality rates will have limiting social contact in public and those countries who kiss both cheeks will be culturally stigmatized. The ritualistic behaviour of socially distancing from others maybe imprinted on the culture’s memory to resurface during another epidemic. When the risk of catching the virus comes not only from strangers on the metro but family and friends breathing in the same vicinity, white masks in public places is an important method of communicating personal beliefs and conformity values. Changing the mask-wearing minority to majority mindset may not come easily. The misunderstanding and fear of disease transmission may have been one of the reasons why anti-asian discrimination has quietly escalated, but I hope that as mask-wearing becomes normalized in Canada, this predominantly Asian practice will not be seen with eyes of fear, only eyes of kind appreciation and acceptance.
Key takeaway/themes:
· Wearing a medical mask in public can be interpreted differently depending on the cultural context.
· Medical masks can act as ‘safety blankets’ and can function in a prophylactic or ritualistic way.
Masks can also be integrated into casual attire as a fashion accessory. Overall, it is a symbolic gesture that demonstrates solidarity and conformity to otherwise irrational behaviors that are evoked as sources of comfort during a pandemic.
References
1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Influenza (flu) History, Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/flu/pandemic-resources/1918-commemoration/1918-pandemic-history.htm
2. BBC. Wong. T. (2020) Coronavirus: Why some countries wear face masks and others do not. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-52015486
3. Global news. Hensley, L. (2020) Why some people still refuse to wear masks. Retrieved from https://globalnews.ca/news/7152424/psychology-behind-anti-masks/
4. Fuller, R. (2015). Religion and the Body. Oxford Religion Encyclopedia. Retrieved from http://oxfordre.com/religion/view/10.1093/a.crefore/97801993403878.001.0001/acrefore-9780199340378-c-18.
5. Lynteris, C. (2018). Plague Masks: The Visual Emergence of Anti-Epidemic Personal Protection
6. Equipment. Ishitani, Lucila, Virgilio Almeida, and Wagner Meira Jr. "Masks: Bringing anonymity and personalization together." IEEE Annals of the History of Computing 1, no. 03 (2003): 18-23.
7. Economist (2020). Correspondent’s diary: The etiquette of face masks in Hong Kong.
8. Sinicki, A. (2018). Health Guidance.org
9. Goffman, Erving (1967): On Face-Work. An Analysis of Ritual Elements in Social Interaction. In: Ders.: Interaction Ritual. New York: Doubleday. 5-45.
10. William. (2014).Monomane Make-up: Zawachin and “impersonation cosmetics” makes copying culture in Japanese Fashion. Online. Japantrends:Lifestyle.
About the Author
Ellie Wakabayashi is a MSc. Student at McGill University. She is a second generation Japanese Canadian and enjoys exploring aspects about her own cultural background within the different provinces of Canada. She used to be a big traveler but is also happy to watch travelling shows and stay at home.