They have to deal with ink, chalk and White-Out smearing across their hands all the time, so it’s time to give lefties some love as the world celebrates International Left-Handers Day today.
There was a time, ages ago when being left-handed meant that a person was “evil” or was likely to be “dealing with the devil.” Left-handed children were often forced to “switch” their dominant hands in order to correct this, says the New York Times.
That belief has long gone, of course, but there is still some curiosity regarding why people grow up left-handed.
According to statistics, some 90% of people are right-handed, leaving a minority 10% lefties. US Presidents Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, and Gerald Ford belong to this group, along with Oprah Winfrey, Bill Gates, Charlie Chaplin, Marilyn Monroe, Jimi Hendrix and Albert Einstein – all famous, iconic and southpaws.
Some researchers believe that genetics might have something to do with being left-handed. A 2013 study in PLOS Genetics pinpointed genes and gene mutations that reportedly could influence “left-right asymmetry” development, according to the Smithsonian. It’s likely that some of these genes might factor into which hand is dominant, but others argue that genetics is probably around 25% responsible and being left-handed is random.
Other researchers believe that being left-handed may be a learned trait that has passed down because of its fighting advantage. Whatever the reason, studies have shown that there is no difference between right-handed and left-handed people when it comes to personality traits such as emotionality, extraversion, affability, responsibility and acceptance of new experiences.
But there are studies that say being left-handed might have some subtle effects on physical and mental health, as the brains and bodies of southpaws may run differently from right-handed, or even ambidextrous people.
For example, a 2009 Stanford University study found that lefties thought differently than righties. When shown two columns of abstract illusions and asked to identify which ones were positive, right-handed participants tended to pick those on the right while left-handed ones chose the ones on the left. The study authors thought this might influence things like which candidates people prefer when watching debates or how voting on ballots is conducted, TIME reports.
On the bright side, southpaws have an edge when it comes to sports, studies say, especially in one-on-ones such as tennis or pitching baseballs. This is because athletes usually train against righties, says Rik Smits of The Puzzle of Left-Handedness, so it’s easier for lefties to adjust when facing left-handed opponents, while right-handed players have more difficulty catching up.
It’s easy enough to forget that the world is mostly right-handed, but lefties live with it every day, so let’s show them some appreciation today.
