Study: Men are less likely to wear a mask because masks are ‘weak’ & ‘not cool’

US Senate Hearing: COVID-19 - Safely Getting Back to Work and Back to School

Toxic masculinity is a term that gets thrown around a lot, especially in regard to male-female relations. As a woman, I see toxic masculinity through that lens of how it affects me, how I’m afraid of these gun-toting morons who ooze toxicity and ignorance, men who are willfully ignorant, men whose masculinity is so fragile that literally “people wearing masks” can trigger them to violence. But honestly, the men are not alright. This became a talking point online yesterday:

This is toxic masculinity and fragile masculinity too. Men who think it’s “weak” or “soft” to… be a responsible member of their community, or take care of their health. It comes from the top too – Donald Trump refuses to be photographed wearing a mask for all of those toxic reasons too. His MAGA people have gotten the message, and they’re harassing people wearing masks at all of their makeshift Nazi rallies as well. From the NY Post:

Men in the US report less intention than women to wear face coverings, especially in counties that don’t mandate wearing them, according to a paper authored by researchers from Middlesex University London in the UK and the Mathematical Science Research Institute in Berkeley, Calif. This, the authors say, suggests that making face coverings mandatory “has a larger effect on men than on women.”

Men are also less likely to believe they’ll be seriously impacted by COVID-19, despite data to the contrary, the research found. “The fact that men less than women intend to wear a face covering can be partly explained by the fact that men more than women believe that they will be relatively unaffected by the disease,” co-authors Valerio Capraro and Hélène Barcelo wrote.

This finding is “particularly ironic,” they said, as men appear to be more severely impacted by the virus: In places such as China, Italy, Spain and New York City, men have died from COVID-19 at far higher rates than women did.

The study also found that men are more likely to report feeling negative emotions while wearing a face covering. “Men more than women agree that wearing a face covering is shameful, not cool, a sign of weakness and a stigma; and these gender differences also mediate gender differences intentions to wear a face covering,” Capraro and Barcelo wrote. That finding, they said, indicates that interventions to promote men’s use of face-coverings work to decrease those emotions.

[From NY Post]

Some men are so turned around, fragile and weak that they think it’s “weak” to live. Only real men die of coronavirus, amirite.

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33 Responses to “Study: Men are less likely to wear a mask because masks are ‘weak’ & ‘not cool’”

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  1. Scollins says:

    Cowardly.

    • (TheOG) jan90067 says:

      Yup!

      I had to run out to my dad’s rehab early this morning to drop off more clothes. As I was waiting for the nurse to come down, a couple walked by. SHE was wearing a bandana, and walking shoulder to shoulder with her, her male companion had NOTHING on his face. No mask, no bandana to pull up when passing another person… Naturally I gave them a HUGE berth…but G’DAMMIT!!! I DO NOT get it!

      WTF about this don’t these people understand??? Do they not see the infection rates/death numbers rising? Do they think they “can’t” get infected because they’re “fit”???

      Last week, I had to go to drop off a bag to my dad’s rehab as well, and as I was locking my condo door (wearing my mask and gloves), a woman, W/OUT a mask, got off the elevator. I asked her if she could wait a min. so I could go back in, as I’m an immunocompromised person (and I couldn’t avoid her; she had to walk right by me). She just laughed, sped up and threw back, “Paranoid!” (I had pressed myself into the doorway, facing my door). I was furious!! And this is an upscale area, with (supposedly!) educated people! Obviously, a MAGAt (sadly, we do have them here, too).

      • sa says:

        That woman sounds terrible. I don’t understand, even if we are all being paranoid and masks do nothing, how would it have hurt her to just wait a minute? I do think that we’ve seen that masks help slow the spread of the virus, but even if you disbelieve that, you still need to respect other people who don’t want you getting too close. It costs absolutely nothing to be respectful of others.

  2. Kate says:

    Then all the men I know are weak
    & uncool.

    Just wear the masks!!

    • Kelly says:

      Same, I know a lot of toxic male idiots and not a single one of them is this stupid. They are stupid enough to whine about lockdowns and demanding the economy to be reopened, but not this (and yeah, they are stupid for contradicting themselves like that). This sounds like clickbait BS.

      Whenever I go out what I find preoccupying is the ammount of elderly people I see outside without masks. I’m working my damn hardest to keep my grandparents safe at home, and I see all these other elderly people walking around like they don’t give a damn.

  3. Also Ali says:

    Anecdotally, I find this to be true, that it’s men that are less likely to be wearing a mask when I’m out.

  4. Sips.Tea says:

    Wrestler Stone Cold Steve Austin was trolled on Instagram when he posted a picture of himself wearing a mask. He simply told the poster to “shut up”. Hoping imagines like the one Stone Cold posted will encourage others to do away with those thoughts

  5. Mabs A'Mabbin says:

    “Some men are so turned around, fragile and weak that they think it’s “weak” to live. Only real men die of coronavirus, amirite.”

    Then die already.

    (My apologies. I’ve lost compassion).

  6. whitewomendontlikeoutspokenblackwomen says:

    “Study” They asked 5 people

  7. chicken tetrazzini! says:

    The nose over the mask thing drives me crazy. You don’t wear your underwear below your dick do you??? It’s frustrating and I had to pre-pologize to my rule following father before I went into a rant about older white men who refuse to wear their masks properly, because it’s always older white men who can’t seem to figure it out.

    • Chaine says:

      In the grocery store, saw an older man with a mask on, but over ONLY his mouth. What part of “breathing” do they not understand…

  8. Valerie says:

    Fellas, is it gay to survive a pandemic

  9. Valerie says:

    That image of Trump says it all. He always has that defiant stance, like a toddler who refuses to be told anything.

  10. MellyMel says:

    Another example of why women live longer than men. Male fragility is a disease in itself.

  11. Mia4s says:

    Batman and the Mandalorian called guys, they’d like you to come to the back alley and say that directly to them.

    Seriously though, toxic masculinity and sheer stupidity really are going to kill us all at some point. 🙄

  12. bleu-moon says:

    It seems to mostly be white guys not wearing masks in NC. The news has talked up how the Latinx and African-American community have been hit hard by coronavirus. White people, but especially men, in NC seem to think they’re immune. If you ask why they’re not wearing a mask, they usually say they’re “healthy.” Pretty sure “healthy” = “white”

  13. Ferdinand says:

    People are crazy. I’ve always wanted to be a superhero. Don’t have the body for it, but now with a mask on at least feeds my childhood’s desire. I think they’re pretty badass.

  14. Agirlandherdog says:

    Toxic masculinity: for months now in our area, stores have been set up so you enter through one door, exit through another. A few weeks ago at a local grocery store, a man tried to exit through the enter only door and was asked by the store employee monitoring the doors to exit through the other door. There is literally 20 feet between the two doors. It’s not like he had to hike to another exit. Instead of just turning and walking a few feet to the other door, he pointed to his gun and asked the kid if he wanted to take it outside. WTF. This is reality. He threatened a poor kid just trying to do his job, WITH A GUN, because he couldn’t go out the same door he entered through.

    • sa says:

      Things like that are why I don’t think I could ever live in a state where it is legal for random people to carry guns around. There’s already at least one story, I think it was in Chicago, of a guy shooting and killing a store employee for asking a customer to wear a mask. The customer wasn’t the shooter, but after she left, her husband and son came back and killed him.

    • Mrs.Krabapple says:

      Omg, that is terrible. I really think crazy people like that have zero self esteem, deep down, and hate themselves. So they try to cover with over the top bravado and aggressiveness towards others. But instead of getting the mental health help they need, they just get egged on by others who also have small dicks like Donald Trump.

  15. Isabella says:

    I had a young guy pass me in the store and look at me and laugh…shaking his head. Think it was because I was wearing a mask. He didn’t have one on. I almost turned around to tell him I was a survivor or a lung tumor and as a result my respiratory system is very sensitive to infections. It p*ssed me off. This man who has probably never suffered anything along those lines judging me and others he encountered. Very telling of who these people are deep down.

  16. Izzy says:

    The menfolk shall die as Covidiots, and woman shall inherit the Earth.

  17. Cate says:

    I also noticed that at least 2 GOO senators (Rand and Burr) are growing beards now—my understanding is that beards make masks less effective. I can (kinda) understand not wanting to shave off an existing beard, but whyyyyy choose this moment to grow one?

  18. February Pisces says:

    I wear a mask and give zero f*cks what people think, I’d wear a NASA space suit if I had one. I know a lot of insecure, self conscious people don’t like wearing them cos they feel stupid. My mum is one of them. It’s so stupid, people should only be going outside for essentials, so I don’t understand why people don’t just wear one already.

  19. Mei says:

    The sheer entitled-ness of these mask-shunning a$$holes is truly disgusting. Lack of compassion by those in charge leads to a free for all for everyone who relies on other people to tell them how they should behave. I’m in a high risk group and have not been outside since mid March, these people are making this situation worse and last longer – F*CK ALL OF YOU.

    Side note, who wouldn’t want to wear either a hilarious MAGA-triggering mask – https://twitter.com/HillaryClinton/status/1260236280341966849?s=20 – or look like a ninja assassin – https://twitter.com/RonitBoseRoy/status/1252135490884718592?s=20?

  20. Elizabeth says:

    This is so infuriating bc the mask is protecting OTHERS, not YOU. It’s not a form of weakness, it’s a way of protecting others. It’s not going to decrease your chance of getting sick, it’s going to stop others from getting sick. So if it’s “strong” to not give a crap around those around you, count me out.

  21. km says:

    Funny enough (or maybe not so funny), this was also an issue during the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic. There were posters and ads specifically directed towards men to get them to wear masks. Good to know things haven’t changed in 100 years (insert obnoxious eye roll). So sick of this toxic masculinity that will eventually kill us all.

    • Jana says:

      Another 4 years of Trump and this penchant for toxic masculinity just might kill us all.

  22. JCan says:

    It seems like they should have mentioned that masks are intended to protect OTHER PEOPLE and not the wearer. Which then also makes sense that women are wearing them and men are not – women think in relation to others, men are far more individualistic.

  23. McMom says:

    Anecdotally, but my husband (a native Texan, lifelong gun owner and hunter who used to drive a Hummer) always wears a mask or fishing gaiter (he has leftover masks from light construction) and says that most people he’s seeing in Houston are wearing masks. He went to the bike store the other day and said all of the men were wearing masks.

    • McMom says:

      I should have finished my thought before I posted – my point is that the notion that wearing a mask isn’t “manly” is just silly. Like others have said, there is a difference between masculinity and toxic masculinity. I know very masculine men who are wearing masks. The ones who are not aren’t more masculine – in some cases, they are just a little nuts.

  24. Cl says:

    I get that rules are rules in your country, but here in the Netherlands masks aren’t recommended because it actually doesn’t work, can create a feeling of false safety, and take away masks from medical personnel

    • Jana says:

      Most of the masks in the US aren’t the medical grade masks that physicians wear, they are made of cloth, and our doctors say can protect you from the droplets that cause COVID19.