“My Face, My Choice?” — Mask Mandates, Bans, and Burqas in the COVID Age
During the 2010s mask bans were on the rise. In the United States, the bans targeted environmentalists and Antifa; in Europe, country after country, offended by the burqa, banned face veils, which supposedly violated the European project of “living together.” Then came Covid-19, and mask mandates. Yet the mask and face veil bans did not go away, something that proved troublesome for both sides of the mask mandate debate. For supporters, mask bans have the potential to impede mask wearing; yet removing them goes against the ethos of state power the mandates rely on for their legitimacy. For opponents, bans run counter to the libertarianism that animates their opposition to mask mandates, yet the cry “my face, my choice” is rarely applied to those, including many burqa wearers, who voluntarily choose to don a mask as a rational response to an age of increasing mass surveillance. This essay explores the current juxtaposition of mask mandates and mask bans, while advocating for the general idea that, most of the time, people should be free to cover (or not cover) their faces.
