When a little girl held a pen to write for the first time, something weird happened: She was left-handed without any hereditary. The family started a heated discussion about the rectification since in China, the left means inauspicious. Ironically, many Chinese treat left-handed people as intelligent and gifted ones. However, when this case comes to their children, they will definitely say ‘No, correct it!’ maintaining a firm attitude. The traditional culture tells us to be unified rather than unique. Consequently the left-handed girl was forced to change her original writing habit. I was exactly the main protagonist of this story.
When I grow up, I have become an ambidexter, using my right hand to write and left hand to do the other things. I try my best to adjust to the general hand preference; however, there are still many conflicts. When I use left hand for meals, I may bump against others’ right hand. When I use scissors, it’s quite inconvenient as the scissors are designed with their sharp blade on the right side. When I look around, I find that all the people are right-handed except me; all the staff is designed especially for the right-handed people. Such phenomenon encourages me to consider that what factors contribute to people’s inherent left-handed preference.
There are many theories trying to explain factors that influence the hand preference. The first one is called anatomical theory, which we are all aware of. This theory states that our left hemisphere controls the right part of body, while our right hemisphere controls the left part of body. Aristotle believes that our right part of body is originally more dominant than the left. That’s why about 90% people on the world are right-handed. The second is called genetic theory, which states that if both parents are left-handed, children are more likely to be left-handed. However, more and more genome-wide association studies conducted show that this theory doesn’t prove the correlation between parents’ hand preference and children’s hand preference. The third popular theory aroused by neurologists at Harvard in 1980s gives the following explanation: when left-handed people were still in their mothers’ wombs, they experienced a dislocation of brain due to the high level of testosterone, which changed the hand preference. The dispute seems never come to an end. Until now, the psychology study of this field has not conceived any persuadable explanatory for what affects the hand preference.
As a person who once suffered from the social stigma and repression of left-handedness, it may be more perusable to say ‘Stop the bias toward lefties!’ We are indeed the 10% in the world, but we didn’t break the law. There’s no need to be uniform in every single thing. Right is right, left is also right.
Picture: http://3.im.guokr.com/USsGcFlzO0lfNLfnv3Ph6YkMKw3_KVH8XKrEdV3UDKl8AgAAZgEAAEpQ.jpg
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handedness#Genetic_factors
This post particularly caught my attention as a left hand-hander, as I faced absolutely no stigma for my “condition,” although I understand your dilemma with using daily objects that are typically catered to our right handed inferiors. I found a funny article <a href="here that states that every President in the United States over the past three decades has been left-handed, with the exception of George W. Bush. In the ’08 election between Obama and McCain, both candidates were left handed. Perhaps we’re not so bad after all?
This post particularly caught my attention as a left hand-hander, as I faced absolutely no stigma for my “condition,” although I understand your dilemma with using daily objects that are typically catered to our right handed inferiors. I found a funny article <a href="here that states that every President in the United States over the past three decades has been left-handed, with the exception of George W. Bush. In the ’08 election between Obama and McCain, both candidates were left handed. Perhaps we’re not so bad after all? (Link fixed.)
This post particularly caught my attention as a left hand-hander, as I faced absolutely no stigma for my “condition,” although I understand your dilemma with using daily objects that are typically catered to our right handed inferiors. I found a funny article <a href="http://disinfo.com/2012/03/why-is-almost-every-president-left-handed/that"Here states that every President in the United States over the past three decades has been left-handed, with the exception of George W. Bush. In the ’08 election between Obama and McCain, both candidates were left handed. Perhaps we’re not so bad after all? (Actually fixed, apologies.)
I am also left-handed and I kind of think its funny that you mentioned how your family tried to change you to be right-handed, because i remember when my little sister first picked up a color pencil she used her right hand I quickly changed it to her left hand because I didn’t want to be then one left-handed person in the family. However, after a couple of minutes she got tired of using her left hand and went back to her right hand. So, in the end I am still the only lefty in the family so here’s an article of 9 weird advantages of being left-handed
http://www.educationandcareernews.com/learning-tools/9-weird-advantages-of-being-left-handed
Thanks for this. I have always wondered what ideas and concepts related to the brain dictate hand preference. For me, I never noticed how unlikely it was that people are left-handed because I was much younger and sort of only acknowledged how normal it is to be right-handed. It wasn’t until I spent a weekend in Boston at my aunt’s house that I realized things weren’t always so straightforward. My older brother noticed something about me while we were playing pool. I use the stick lefty. It is the only thing I’ve ever naturally done left-handed. This has always confused me and I noticed your post because of it, thank you! I hope a more concrete cause for hand preference can be proven. Here’s a really cool article I found about ambidextrous people: http://mentalfloss.com/article/30667/11-facts-about-ambidextrous
Posting again because my 1st blog period wasn’t graded because I missed the plagiarism test:
Thanks for this. I have always wondered what ideas and concepts related to the brain dictate hand preference. For me, I never noticed how unlikely it was that people are left-handed because I was much younger and sort of only acknowledged how normal it is to be right-handed. It wasn’t until I spent a weekend in Boston at my aunt’s house that I realized things weren’t always so straightforward. My older brother noticed something about me while we were playing pool. I use the stick lefty. It is the only thing I’ve ever naturally done left-handed. This has always confused me and I noticed your post because of it, thank you! I hope a more concrete cause for hand preference can be proven. Here’s a really cool article I found about ambidextrous people: http://mentalfloss.com/article/30667/11-facts-about-ambidextrous
This blog stood out to me for personal reasons. My sister is left-handed and when she first started to draw with a crayon, my mother tried to switch it and put it in her right hand. However, my sister would just switch it right back to her left hand. Being left-handed can be difficult, but mostly it’s just a nuisance. Finding a desk that has the shelf on the left side is a challenge. If you play baseball, you stand on the opposite side of the plate. So it’s the little things that affect left-handers. This article, https://geogee.wordpress.com/2012/11/05/the-pros-and-cons-of-being-left-handed/, shows the pros and cons of being left-handed. Did you know that a left-hander is 85% percent more likely to get into a car accident? However, I agree with you on your final statement, left-handers are just as right as right-handers.