Bias against left-handed people
These may include school desks, kitchen implements, and tools ranging from simple scissors to hazardous machinery such as power saws.
[2] Beyond being inherently disadvantaged by a right-handed bias in the design of tools, left-handed people have been subjected to deliberate discrimination and discouragement.
In many societies, left-handed people have been historically forced as children to use their right hands for tasks which they would naturally perform with the left, such as eating or writing.
[3] In the late 20th century, left-handedness became less stigmatized, and in many countries, particularly the Western world, left-handed children were no longer forced to switch to their right hand.
[6] 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.
[11] Owing to cultural and social pressures, many left-handed children were forced to write and perform other activities with their right hands.
"[18] Many Asian countries force their children to become right-handed due to cultural perceptions of bad luck associated with the left hand.
[3] Malawians state their views that "the left hand is less skilled and less powerful than the right one" as main reasons for forcing left-handers to convert.
[25] On March 8, 1971, The Florence Times—Tri-Cities Daily reported that left-handed people "are becoming increasingly accepted and enabled to find their right (or left) place in the world.
[27] According to an article by The Washington Post from August 13, 1979, a University of Chicago psychologist, Jerre Levy, said: "In 1939, 2 percent of the population wrote with the left hand.
"[28] According to the article by The Washington Post of August 13, 1979, Dr. Bernard McKenna of the National Education Association said: "There was recognition by medical authorities that left-handedness was normal and that tying the hand up in a child often caused stuttering.
Tools, game equipment, musical instruments and other items must be specially ordered for left-handed use, if they are even produced and are usually more expensive than their right-handed counterparts.
[37] Left-handers using right-handed scissors will often try to compensate by forcing the handles apart laterally, causing discomfort or injury to the first knuckle of the thumb.
In first-person shooters, many games default to the right pointer-finger being used to fire, simulating a right-handed person pulling the trigger of the weapon.
[49] The Oxford English Dictionary lists a non-baseball citation for "south paw", meaning a punch with the left hand, as early as 1848,[50] just three years after the first organized baseball game, with the note "(orig.
It is very uncommon to see a left-handed player playing any infield position other than pitcher or first basemen due to the clockwise flow of the game when throwing the ball around the bases.
Left-handed bowlers are usually at an advantage during ten-pin bowling competition when hooking the ball into the pins from the left side of the lane.
As there are fewer left-handed players, the lane's left side is not used as much, and thus the applied oil pattern does not change as quickly as it does for right-handed bowlers.
Some world champion left-handed tennis players include Jimmy Connors, Guillermo Vilas, John McEnroe, Martina Navratilova, Marcelo Ríos, Goran Ivanišević and Rafael Nadal.
[57] The vast majority of firearms are designed for right-handed shooters, with the operating handle, magazine release, or safety mechanisms set up for manipulation by the right hand, and fired cartridge cases ejected to the right (away from the body).
[citation needed] Power tools, machinery and other potentially dangerous equipment is typically manufactured with the right-handed user in mind.
Common problems faced by left-handed operators include the inability to keep materials steady, and difficulty reaching the on/off switch, especially in emergency situations.
This makes it difficult for a left-handed operator to guide the material being cut, as it must be pushed to the right side to align with the fence to avoid kickback.
Alternatively, sinister comes from the Latin word sinus meaning 'pocket': a traditional Roman toga had only one pocket, located on the left side.
[60] In both Ancient Greek and Roman religion, auspices (usually the flight paths of birds, as observed by a bird-diviner, or augur) were thought to be unfavorable if appearing on the diviner's left-hand side and favorable if on the right: an ancient custom mentioned in Homer's Iliad and of apparently Middle Eastern origin (as attested in the Amarna correspondence, in which a king of Alashiya, i.e. Cyprus, requests an eagle-diviner from the Pharaoh of Egypt).
The left hand symbolized the power to shame society, and was used as a metaphor for misfortune, natural evil, or punishment from the gods.
The Polish expression mieć dwie lewe ręce, Dutch twee linkerhanden hebben, German zwei linke Hände haben, Bulgarian dve levi ratse, French avoir deux mains gauches, Italian avere due mani sinistre, Hungarian kétbalkezes and Czech Mít obě ruce levé all mean 'to have two left hands'—that one is clumsy or is a very poor handyman; the English equivalent is "to be all thumbs".
The Welsh phrase tu chwith allan and the Polish expression na lewą stronę ('left side out') refers to an object being inside-out.
[85] Left-handed people who speak Arabic, Persian, Urdu, Hebrew or any other language that conventionally uses a right-to-left script do not have the same difficulties with writing.
[87][88] The authors Ardila, Alfredo and Rosselli, Diego in their article "Handedness in Colombia: Some associated conditions" claims, "Attending school results in a significant social pressure to use the right hand, not only in writing but also in other activities.
