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Mahalik says his study showed that American men had more negative reactions to wearing masks, especially among men who conform more to traditional masculine norms.
The problem has been clouded by many social and political factors in the United States, he says.
“Men have been particularly reluctant to the mask – there were evangelical pastors who were doing this about manhood in some way. A televangelist in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in late March, was talking about implementing health regulations like social distancing, and he said that somehow the people who are implementing this ‘got neutralized’ somehow along the way and didn’t even realize it. “
Previous studies have shown that men who conform to more masculine norms tend to see less benefit in overall health behaviors.
“We already had that, so we thought there might be some links to empathy and trust in science.”
Looking at the response from his study group overall, on average, the men surveyed adopted wearing masks and agreed that they were confident in science, but Mahalik says there were more negative reactions to wearing masks across the group. masks and science among men than among women. .
The combined results from the male sample also ranked them as ‘just a little’ in agreement with having empathy for people vulnerable to COVID. And those who were least likely to address health recommendations were more likely to have traditional male characteristics.
“It made me very sad somehow [men] having less empathy for vulnerable people, I thought it was a really disturbing finding. I’m always reluctant to characterize ‘bad men, good women,’ I don’t think that’s particularly helpful, “he says.
“But if we think in terms of how we tend to raise boys and men: little Johnny falls down, scratches his knee, starts crying, they say ‘big boys don’t cry.’ We tend to socialize boys and men not being centered. in emotions. And we also tend to socialize kids, at least in the US, to be more independent. There’s nothing wrong with independence and self-reliance, but disconnecting is different than that. “
