Unmasking the ageism of whiteness during COVID-19

This essay explores how ageism and youth supremacy have informed the anti-masking attitudes and actions of toxic white masculinity throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. I argue that because elderly populations have been particularly vulnerable throughout the pandemic and because face masks often connote this vulnerability, white masculinity has sought to maintain power by resisting masking, and therefore, avoiding being perceived as old. By analyzing Donald Trump's anti-masking rhetoric from his 2020 U.S. Presidential campaign, I show how toxic white masculinity's resistance to masking is an effort to present itself as youthful, with youth tied to notions of power, whiteness, and health.