Wearing a mask created a spatial boundary in that people were a bit more wary walking around me. I definitely noticed a few people take a step back. While no strangers specifically asked me why I was wearing a mask, I got many looks, specifically in places where I would either have to take it off or places related to health, such as CVS. People I did know asked why I was wearing it, and I felt the need to give disclaimers that I was not sick when taking it off around my friends and acquaintances. When we were together as a group, I noticed more people looking than when I was by myself. I expected this, as multiple people together wearing masks is not something seen often nowadays. I also think this was amplified by the fact that we were in a cafeteria, so naturally we had to take off our masks to eat. No one was sitting near us, as they likely assumed we were sick.
If I was always wearing a mask and it was considered abhorrent, I would try not to draw attention to myself, interact with as little people as possible, and only go out when necessary. I do think the reactions would have been more outward in places more conservative than Athens, and I would have felt more compelled to engage in these reserved behaviors. However, the university is so intertwined with the town that the culture bleeds over, making on-campus and off-campus reactions hardly differ. In a way, masks do identify people as part of a specific group, that group being a left-leaning political affiliation. I think this was especially true in the early days of the pandemic, when masks were at the height of their controversy. And while masks don’t always indicate a political affiliation, in my experience people who wear them consistently skewed left. This is especially nowadays when almost no one wears masks anymore. I feel more comfortable wearing one in Athens than I would in a conservative area, such as the counties surrounding Athens or even greater Athens County itself. If I were always wearing a mask, I would stick to places where I felt I wouldn’t be treated negatively, limiting my overall mobility in public spaces.
This experience and project reminded me of the article “Walking While Black.” Garnette Cadogan’s race is a permanent marker for him. Unlike masks, he is not able to take it on and off. To counteract how people might treat him, he changes his behavior, clothing, style of speaking, and more to try and make himself seem like less of a potential threat. If I were in an area where I felt like wearing a mask would make others see me with distaste, I would engage in similar behaviors. Even in left-leaning Athens, I felt the need to tell friends around me that I was not sick because I didn’t want them to feel uncomfortable. Another article, “The Normality of Doing Things Differently: Bodies, Spaces and Disability Geography” discusses how people with visible disabilities often feel out of place, as if they do not belong in spaces deemed as “non-disabled.” Some of these people have no other choice but to navigate spaces in ways out of the norm, leading to differential, often negative, treatment. This is just another example of a marker that others feel is strange or wrong. While wearing a mask is not as extreme as being disabled, nowadays it indicates that you are either sick or paranoid, when really it is just a piece of clothing. People see it as weird and different, two traits that are not often treated with respect.
This differs among cultures as well. Wearing a mask is not going to be reacted upon the same way in the United States as it would in Japan, where masks are commonly worn. In some places it is standard, and in others it garners disdain. This again relates to “Walking While Black” as Cadogan describes that while Kingston, Jamaica is statistically a more dangerous place than New Orleans, he felt much safer there as he was not marked by his race. Visual markers create spatial boundaries based on assumptions; however, this differs heavily depending on place.
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