Unfavourable perceptions of left-handedness

• In some areas, in order to preserve cleanliness where sanitation was an issue, the right hand, as the dominant hand of most individuals, was/is used for eating, handling food, and social interactions. The left hand would then be used for personal hygiene, specifically after urination and defecation.
  • Through these practices, the left hand became known as the “unclean” hand.
  • Currently, amongst Muslims and in some societies including Nepal and India it is still customary to use the left hand for cleaning oneself with water after defecating.
    • The right hand is commonly known in contradistinction from the left, as the hand used for eating.
• In Christianity, the right hand of God is the favoured hand.
  • Jesus sits at God’s right side. God’s left hand, however, is the hand of judgement.
    • The Archangel Gabriel is sometimes called “God’s left hand” and sits at God’s left side.
  • Those who fall from favour with God are sent to the left, as described in Matthew 25: 32–33, in which sheep represent the righteous and goats represent the fallen.
    • “And he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats. And he shall set the sheep on his right, but the goats on his left.”
• In 19th-century Europe, homosexuals were referred to as “left-handed”.
• Various innocuous activities and experiences become rude or even signs of bad luck when the left hand becomes involved.
  • In some parts of Scotland, it is considered bad luck to meet a left-handed person at the start of a journey.
  • In Ghana, pointing, gesturing, giving or receiving items with the left hand is considered taboo or rude.

Cultural prejudice against left-handedness §

• In the past children who were naturally left-handed were encouraged (or forced) to use their right hand mainly due to the prejudice against the awkwardness of left-handed writing and prevalence of “right-handed” utensils.

Note

As a child, British king George VI (1895–1952) was naturally left-handed. He was forced to write with his right hand, as was common practice at the time.

• Apart from inconvenience, left-handed people have historically been considered unlucky or even malicious for their difference by the right-handed majority.
• Throughout history, being left-handed was considered negative, or evil; even into the 20th century, left-handed children were beaten by schoolteachers for writing with their left hand.
• In the Soviet Union, all left-handed children were forced to write with their right hand in the Soviet school system.

Linguistic associations §

See: Language associations with left-handedness

Industrial Revolution §

• When Industrial Revolution spread across Western Europe and the United States in the 19th century, workers needed to operate complex machines that were designed with right-handers in mind.
  • This would have made left-handers more visible and at the same time appear less capable and more clumsy.
• At this time children were taught to use a dip pen which was challenging for lefties as they couldn’t easily push the pen without digging into the paper and making blots and stains.