Why I'm still wearing a mask

Recently the CDC loosened its face mask guidelines, and my university now allows those who are fully vaccinated to work maskless in less-trafficked spaces. I will continue wearing a mask, given that we do not know for certain whether the vaccines protect against variants and for how long vaccine-induced immunity lasts. However, my reasons stretch beyond protecting those around me.

Yesterday I wore a mask for about seven hours, not unlike any other day since summer 2020 when I resumed working in person. It’s a relief every day to remove it, though I’ve upgraded masks to decrease discomfort.

I exited the Metro on that unusually chilly May evening, encountering the freedom only a Friday can elicit as well as a command I almost forgot that I dodged for much of the pandemic: being told to smile. I kid you not that it took less than ten seconds after exposing my face’s lower half for a transit employee to insist I smile, without hesitation. Of course the employee was male.

I could write for hours on how much this pisses me off. But it also pisses me off because I simply ignored him. Then again, I doubt older men will learn that women like myself do not exist to look pleasant for them. Don’t tell me what to do. Even if I am happy and simply choose to not express that physically, I do not owe you a smile.

I also have never understood why most Americans smile in public so much. If my eyes accidentally meet a stranger’s on public transit or on the streets, I avert. Awkward. I always sympathize with eastern Europe’s “non-smiling culture” because otherwise I feel smiling loses its authenticity. Russians find smiling at something rather than about something peculiar, so much so that it indicates stupidity or questionable intentions.

Maybe I don “resting bitch face” more than others because of this. Regardless of the reason, I need a reason to smile, and being told to do so is never one of them. A mask protects me from this.

Unfortunately facial recognition is growing more commonplace, even during a pandemic. Now everyone’s face mask selfies improve its technology.

I learned in the fall that I more than likely fell victim to Facebook’s malicious photo-tagging technology when I still lived in Illinois, a state whose law, the Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), prohibits tech companies from harvesting personal biometric data without permission. While I am pleased I may receive $345 from the settlement, I also scoff at Facebook “buying out” my privacy, especially when the payouts are pennies to them.

Biometric surveillance sucks. So, more reason to wear a mask, even if masks offer only slightly more friction for these companies than without.