Left-handed individuals just want to be right, as in correct

By Molly Geisler

Sitting down to a dinner together, my friends and I were making close physical contact. More than once, the person to my left and I bumped arms while eating. "Ah, you lefty! Messing up the flow of things," he said jokingly, yet his words made me realize that "right supremacy" is not only alive, it is even being served at my dinner table.

Although I am the black sheep of the family, I never had to pretend to be someone else when I developed as a person, and for this I am thankful. During school, however, kids would poke fun at me because I had black, blue or gray ink smudges covering the pinky side of my hand, after I had inadvertently rubbed over the fresh writing I worked so hard to manage neatly.

Occasionally, I would find the words "too messy, please re-do" on the top of my assignments, or even have points deducted from exams!

The brain functions in a sort of cross-wired system, where the left hemisphere controls the right-handed side of the body and vice-versa. Since brain activity in the right hemisphere, which has left-hand control, is associated with music, art, creativity, perception and more, left-handed people are more likely to excel in these areas and tend to have more of a holistic outlook.

It's a shame that so many instruments are made for right-handed people, such as guitars, but obviously this was not too big a hurdle to hinder Jimi Hendrix, Paul McCartney and Kurt Cobain.

But it is also found that stuttering and dyslexia, among other conditions, occur more often in left-handed people.

The view that left-handers are clumsy and awkward is due not to their natural abilities, but to being forced to use right-handed tools and machinery. In many cultures there is a phrase very similar to the English "to have two left feet," which means to be clumsy.

The common word "ambidexterity" has the definition of being skilled with both hands, so why is it that the Latin root "dexter" means "right," equating skillfulness with being right-handed on both sides? On the flipside, "ambisinistrous," the lesser-known antonym, means "clumsy on both sides," with its base derived from the Latin root "sinister," which means "left."

Take a look at the bias in other languages, such as Spanish and Italian. The words diestro and destro both mean "right-handed" as well as "skillful." In Danish, the saying "venstrehåndsarbejde," means "something that is done in a sloppy or unsatisfactory way" and is translated directly as "left-handed work." The linguistic evidence of the marginalization of lefties is endless.

Religion is not without negative connotations for left-handedness either. The Bible is packed with positive references to the right hand and even negative ones regarding the left hand. In Christianity, the right hand is used to give the blessing and make the sign of the cross, while the left is used to condemn people.

The devil is usually depicted as being left-handed and evil spirits are said to lurk over the left shoulder. Ever wonder where the practice of throwing salt over the left shoulder originated?

In a world that tailors almost exclusively to those who are right-handed, the roughly ten percent of the population that is left-handed lives nine years less on average than righties.

A closer look reveals that most everyday objects make life less convenient for lefties: computer mice, cameras, shirt pockets, measuring cups and even pens on chains at banks! It's very likely that every pair of jeans you own has a zipper made for right-handed dominance -- which I'm sure is fitting for most people while dressing themselves.

Being a mix-handed person myself, I have learned to embrace the fact that I am usually the laughing stock of the field, court or rink.

How am I supposed to play soccer when I can't figure out which foot to kick the ball with? As a snowboarder and a skateboarder I learned to be proud that I rode in a so-called "goofy" style. I found I was actually more valued as a cheerleader due to the ease with which I could interchange the leg I used in performing one-legged stunts as a flyer. I feel as though there has been nothing "left out" of my life thus far.

People can say what they say and think what they think, but as long as my heart -- like everyone else's -- beats in the left side of my chest, I will always consider myself nothing less than a novelty, and a right-minded one at that.

Right?

Molly Geisler is a senior psychology major.