It's likely that sexism has something to do with it. The fact that he guarantees I'm not the ONLY one masking, when I'm sitting next to him, probably also has something to do with it.

There was a time at the airport when a couple of kids saw me and Vicki wearing masks, and asked me what I had on my face. (Lost strangers ask Vicki for directions. Children talk to me.) It didn't feel like a hostile kind of challenge, more like honest bewilderment. And their grown-ups were mortified.