The Covid-19 epidemic already seems far away. If some still catch the virus that has paralyzed the entire Earth, the shadow of the famous “coronavirus” seems to gradually disintegrate, taking with it the terms “containment”, “vaccination pass” or even “barrier gesture”. However, there is one memory of this epidemic which seems determined to remain anchored in the lives of the French. Already adopted by Asians to protect others from their viruses, the health mask is resisting.
This coveted object that our elected officials could not find, going so far as to claim that it was neither necessary nor useful, is still very present, displaying its delicious hospital blue color or its black or white variants. But not always for medical reasons. If the most fragile continue to wear it out of a need to protect themselves, some have somewhat diverted it from its primary use. For what reason? Let’s sum it up in three words: to hide.
Those accused of the Mazan rapes
When they arrived near the courtroom, many defendants tried in the Mazan rape case tried to hide under a cap, glasses or a hood. Classic. Most of these 49 men suspected of having raped Gisèle Pelicot obviously did not want to be recognized. And many wore surgical masks to hide their faces. Do they have the right? Not easy.
The law of October 11, 2010 recalls that it is prohibited to hide one’s face in public spaces “except in exceptional circumstances.” For a carnival, to drive a motorized two-wheeler or to do fencing, it is authorized. It is also possible to wear a mask for health reasons in order to protect yourself or others. Were all the Mazan defendants sick or fragile? Absolutely not. But the health crisis has undoubtedly given them this right. “The pandemic has changed practices and habits. It made it easier to circumvent the law. Particularly because the text is general enough to adapt to circumstances,” assures Nathalie Wolff, lecturer in public law.
The mask sometimes even makes its way into the courtroom of our courts. Tried before the Paris Special Assize Court for his role in the attack on the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo in 2015, terrorist Peter Cherif wore it all the time, even when he was alone in his cubicle. Difficult for a judge to ask a defendant to remove his mask if the latter argues that he is potentially ill.
“It has become a possible option for those who experience health fear or altruism. The mask has now acquired the status of a banal, even common object. It’s hard to imagine people going to court wearing a balaclava! », Estimates Franck Cochoy, author of the work The health mask in all its aspects.
Dealers no longer wear hoods
At the bottom of the towers, those we call lookouts have clearly not let their guard down in the face of the virus. These young men responsible for monitoring the comings and goings of the police to protect the drug trafficking that is going on behind them very often adopt surgical protection. “They prefer to wear a mask rather than a hood or a scarf, it’s more discreet. In some places, they all have it,” explains a Rennes police officer. “And when we check on them, they tell us that they are sick. For us, it’s more difficult to identify them. But we’re getting there, we’re making arrangements,” continues the man on the ground.
“Wearing a mask has largely declined with the decline of the pandemic, but it has not disappeared. We meet people who wear it every day and we are used to it. When a person wears a health mask, their intentions remain ambiguous. This ambiguity favors its use,” adds doctor of social sciences Franck Cochoy.
The thorny question of veiled women
According to the police, the wearing of masks among Muslim women has also become increasingly common in France. “As the niqab is prohibited, some put on a mask to hide their face,” explains a police officer on condition of anonymity. Wearing an abaya, their hands gloved, masked women no longer reveal much other than their eyes, which is prohibited by French law.
“The 2010 law which targeted the burqa was adopted for precisely this purpose. We were talking about hiding the face because if the text had mentioned a religious motive, it would have been censored by the Constitutional Council. For me, this text was of interest because it gave a strong signal of the values of our Republic. But we see that with the surgical mask, the law is circumvented more easily”, estimates Nathalie Wolff, also author of the work Is secularism against religions?.
The mask at the head of the processions
During the health crisis, we regularly saw people “rebel” against the obligation to wear a mask, believing that it was an obstacle to freedom. Some even demonstrated. A few years later, it is quite funny to see that the surgical mask remains present in the processions, particularly at the outposts and in the ranks of the black blocs. A way to hide and avoid being recognized or identified.
Adopted in 2019 and therefore before the health crisis, an “anti-thugs law” had prohibited the hiding of the face during demonstrations, with the aim of identifying black blocs dressed in black. There too, the mask came to help them. “It is up to the judge to assess whether this constitutes an offense. The whole problem is to assess whether the reason for hiding one’s face was legitimate or not,” continues researcher Nathalie Wolff. A “yellow vest” who had explained “being cold” to justify wearing a neck warmer in demonstrations had been condemned, the courts having ruled that this reason “was not legitimate”.
Stars in search of discretion
In the few photos immortalizing Kylian Mbappé’s arrival in Stockholm, we can see the Real Madrid footballer with his face hidden behind a black mask. To avoid being recognized, stars regularly opt for surgical masks in public. This was particularly the case of the couple formed by the influencer Kylie Jenner and the actor Timothée Chalamet during a trip to the cinema where they tried to escape the paparazzi. Even when they are not known, some like to protect their identity, particularly from video surveillance.
“In China, a lot of research in facial recognition has been conducted to identify the identity of people even when they wear a mask. This type of work illustrates quite well the ambiguous place of the mask in social space: it is both a health tool and a veil placed over people’s identity,” analyzes Franck Cochoy.
As a bonus, the Marseille special
In Marseille, we don’t do anything like the others. To the point that some have gone so far as to divert the use of surgical masks to protect their vehicles from viruses.
On several occasions, residents were able to see the famous objects covering the license plates. The objective? Hide them from the famous “PV sulphators” who fine all those who have not paid for their parking or are parked incorrectly. But difficult to justify in the event of physical control by the police. “My car has a fever” is not very credible.
