While mask-wearing was relatively common in Asian cultures before the Covid pandemic, the last 18 months have introduced the practice to many western societies on a scale never previously seen.  Research from Hokkaido University examines whether the pandemic has changed our perception of face coverings.

The research, which was conducted in Japan, looked at how wearing face masks affected how we viewed the attractiveness of others.  The researchers highlight the various factors that go into determining how attractive we find others, from the smoothness of their skin to the symmetry of their face.

Obviously, wearing a face mask covers up the lower half of one’s face, and therefore obscures many of the features we use to judge facial attractiveness.  What’s more, historically, Japanese people would wear a face covering when they had the flu or some other virus they didn’t want to pass onto others, so wearing a mask also had connotations regarding the perceived health of the wearer.

Reduced attractiveness

In other words, the researchers hypothesized that wearing a face mask would reduce facial attractiveness, but that the familiarity with masks during Covid would dampen that effect somewhat.

The researchers surveyed around 300 adults, with the results revealing that a growing number of people thought that wearing a face mask actually had a positive impact on one’s perceived healthiness.  This is a reversal from pre-Covid perceptions.

It is perhaps inevitable that the prolonged mass exposure to face mask wearing during the pandemic has significantly changed our perceptions of both the masks themselves and of the people wearing them.  While the study looked primarily at shifting perceptions of attractiveness, there will also inevitably be changes in perception about the use of masks in the west in a more general sense.

Early indicators suggest that while many western countries had no real mask-wearing culture to speak of before Covid, the pandemic has shifted perceptions such that mask wearing may be part of the “new normal”, especially if the wearer has an illness they don’t wish to pass on.