Comments on Facto Diem: The Other Hand

Evolution has been selecting against left handed p...

2010-08-09T08:40:58.873-04:00

Evolution has been selecting against left handed people. Why?

Cool post - I appreciate it as a left-hander. Doe...

2010-08-09T00:37:08.119-04:00

Cool post - I appreciate it as a left-hander. Does anyone else's eyes bug out trying to read white text on black background? Maybe that's related to my left-handedness as well.

Katy, I have this same time of semi-ambidexterit...

2010-08-08T22:57:36.586-04:00

Katy,

I have this same time of semi-ambidexterity. I've coined what I believe is a term of my own making... "exclusively ambidextrous".

I've never heard a term for folks that do things both right and left, but cannot switch for a particular task, but I figure "exclusively ambidextrous" describes it fairly well.

I'm extremely left handed. I always believed ...

2010-08-08T18:13:42.872-04:00

I'm extremely left handed. I always believed it had to be genetic. My Mom was right handed. She was missing one of her front teeth next to her canines. I am also missing such a tooth, only on the other side. It was in our genes never to have this tooth, but I was the mirror image of my Mom. OK, probably not proof it is genetic, but hey, it is interesting. At least to me.

I really enjoyed this post because my husband has ...

2010-08-07T22:30:10.043-04:00

I really enjoyed this post because my husband has an unusual type of ambidexterity. He writes and throws lefty, but bats and swings a golf club righty. It's ambidexterity, but each skill has a singular association with handedness: he can't write or throw with his right hand, nor swing lefty.

We'll definitely be posting this on our blog. It's a great piece!

I don't think you can discuss the history of h...

2010-08-07T18:18:22.502-04:00

I don't think you can discuss the history of handedness without discussing the social aspect of it. For much of Western civilizational history, right handedness has been specifically taught to children. I would argue that one of the major reasons why right-handed people continue to predominate regardless of the advantages typically associated with being sinister is that social indoctrination. So too would this likely affect later success; a person who maintains their handedness through abuse would reap the rewards (and penalties) of early adversity. Similarly, parents who are unwilling to punish a child for handedness would likely be more willing to encourage other "eccentricities" in their child, and such positive environments carry their own benefits.

As to the cause, I would argue that early environment has the largest effect. This is purely colloquial, but me and my older brother were both cared for in the day during our early years by a left-handed child psychologist who encouraged natural hand choice in her day-care. As a result, both of us are left-handed. My other two brothers had their day-care with someone who opposed left-handedness and they turned out right-handed. It isn't scientific, but it always struck me the difference that those two environments made between the four of us.

I'm left handed, and though I'm an above a...

2010-08-07T18:02:22.356-04:00

I'm left handed, and though I'm an above average writer and reader, my penmanship can best be described as Napoleonic; for those who don't know, Napoleon was left-handed, which might account for both his military genius and famously illegible handwriting.
But I guess it's hard to say what qualities left-handedness favors. I seem to have a natural talent for music, but am far from adept at sports. My prowess in combat has so far not been tested.

Have you ever studied 2D:4D ratios in fingers? Int...

2010-08-07T17:29:04.960-04:00

Have you ever studied 2D:4D ratios in fingers? Interestingly, some studies have associated a low 2D:4D finger ratio (masculine) to increased testosterone exposure in utero. It has also been associated with autism and, in women, lesbianism.

Independently, increased testosterone exposure in utero has been linked to autistic disorders.

I'm a left-handed heterosexual, feminine woman with Asperger's and a low 2D:4D ratio. My sons with Asperger's are not left-handed. I have a significant IQ disparity, with verbal IQ 22 points higher.

I'm terrible at math and have no musical skills. I am a skilled writer/editor and I type 135 wpm. I excel at tests of spatial ability and I'm an awesome Tetris player, but like most people with Asperger's, I have extremely poor spatial awareness and am considered clumsy (I also hit curbs all the time while driving).

I can write and eat with my right hand, but I don't think I qualify as ambidextrous (I can write upside down and backwards, too).

If the association between testosterone exposure and autism and testosterone exposure and left-handedness and testosterone exposure and lesbianism are true, shouldn't there be a substantial proportion of left-handed lesbians with Asperger's?

I have read that people who have autism are more likely to be left-handed (though people who are left-handed are not more likely to be autistic). Yet I would expect people with Asperger's to be less skilled in battle because they tend to have poor upper body muscle tone and an odd gait.

Obviously, there are multiple things at work here.

When I first met my mother in law, many years back...

2010-08-07T16:21:01.303-04:00

When I first met my mother in law, many years back, she noticed that I was left handed and actually asked my husband ( who was my boyfriend at the time) if there was something wrong with me. You are correct in saying that this stigma still lives on even today.

So glad I happened across your blog entry. I'...

2010-08-07T16:07:58.616-04:00

So glad I happened across your blog entry. I've been working hard to push the meme that people ought to think of sexuality in the way they think of handedness: a small minority of people do some very important things in the exact opposite way as the rest of the population, but it's not really a problem. All that is required is a little tolerance. When people bring up the idea that gays and lesbians make a choice about sexual behavior, that they don't HAVE to act on their inclinations, I suggest they try using their non-dominant hand for a day and see if that feels like a choice, too.

Oooh, that one year i played soccer i realized i w...

2010-07-31T23:35:11.126-04:00

Oooh, that one year i played soccer i realized i was left footed too!

Anonymous: Though I'm sure being different giv...

2010-07-31T06:47:42.560-04:00

Anonymous: Though I'm sure being different gives a significant combat advantage, lefties are known to have enhanced spatial ability. This seems like it couldn't hurt.

Alex: It's possible they (or somebody) did influence you to switch hands, but there's another theory about this. It says that your brain could control dexterity on both sides. The way your brain is set up, you really are more skillful with your right hand, and with your left foot. Your brain didn't lump those two things together. I'm trying to find where I read about this but I can't!

so I am right handed, but left footed (aka goofy o...

2010-07-31T06:13:29.859-04:00

so I am right handed, but left footed (aka goofy on a board and much better at leaping/turning when dancing on my left side) any idea how this could have occurred? I tried to blame my parents for forcing me into right handedness but my mother denies she used to switch my spoon as a child. I am skeptical. Explain me, Nat.

i feel so betrayed by my right-handedness. i want ...

2010-07-31T01:05:31.179-04:00

i feel so betrayed by my right-handedness. i want more abstract thinking!

So, I don't know how to explain the initial re...

2010-07-27T14:35:19.827-04:00

So, I don't know how to explain the initial reason that righties are prevalent, but given that they were at one time, it's totally understood why that trend continued: for the vast majority of humanity's lifetime, we haven't had toilet paper. For interpersonal interactions to occur, there must be a convention for which hand is the crap hand. If righties are more prevalent, the left hand gets that role. If you happen to suck with your only hand that's not covered in gross, which you'll use to interact with others, eat, make things, etc., you get selected against.

Also, I think the combat advantage of a lefty comes more from being unusual than from heightened spatial awareness. Ask any martial artist or baseball player. Thus, were lefties to become more prevalent, their combat edge would diminish.

The notion that right-handedness is 'right'...

2010-07-27T11:13:02.762-04:00

The notion that right-handedness is 'right' and left-handedness is 'wrong' has a correlation to skin color, too. As a color, white is more associated with goodness and pureness and dark or black more associated with notions of evil or threats. Humans love to put peoples and objects into categories, don't we?