ACKNOWLEDGING LEFT-HANDED DISCRIMINATION IN OUR SOCIETY

Oftentimes, I am accosted discourteously with an outstretched right hand when I greet someone for the first time. The stranger seems friendly enough, and I let it go without remark. As a guitarist, when I go to the local music stores to shop for a new instrument, the selection almost always consists of one, or two if luck is on my side—this consistent occurrence displeases me much, but there I hadn’t taken to make the mistreatment of me known. When I meet with the mailperson as they pull into my driveway bearing the goods I had ordered some days prior, they, knowing the delivery cannot be concluded until I inscribe my signature onto the pink card, then—can you guess it?—hand the pen over to my right hand. Again, I am irked, but as I signed, I noticed something written on the side of the pen, and upon closer inspection, I saw that it was the logo facing upside down—completely unlegible unless held in the right hand! Yes, the pen was exclusively built by and designed for right-handers. I let it slide once more in spite of this offense.

     Are you seeing the pattern here? Or do you need further evidence of the unconscious bias against lefties in our social order? How about B.C. Rich refusing to manufacture guitars and basses for us—the left-handed minority? Or, car manufacturers withholding right-hand drive vehicles in countries where it is not the norm, oppressing those of us lefties who prefer to shift with our left hands. You might notice the promotional images advertising the new computer big PC companies aim to sell, with the mouse chiefly positioned on the right side of the monitor. It’s everywhere, and yet completely invisible to most of us due to our conditioning.

Are you with me yet? 

Or, are you a dexteritism denier?

     Here is an excerpt from Wikipedia regarding the negative appeal of left-handedness:

     “Apart from inconvenience, left-handed people have historically been considered unlucky or even malicious for their difference by the right-handed majority.”

     “The word for the direction "right" also means "correct" or "proper". Throughout history, being left-handed was considered negative.”

     “There are many negative connotations associated with the phrase "left-handed": clumsy, awkward, unlucky, insincere, sinister, malicious, and so on. A "left-handed compliment" is considered one that is unflattering or dismissive in meaning.”

     Wow… just wow.

     
     Here’s another Wikipedia passage—from the “Bias against left-handed people” page. It’s under the “Unfavorable perceptions” contents section:

     “Due to cultural and social pressures, many left-handed children were encouraged or forced to write and perform other activities with their right hands. This conversion can cause multiple problems in the developing left-handed child, including learning disorders, dyslexia, stuttering and other speech disorders. Shifts from left to right-handed are more likely to be successful than right to left, though neither have a high success rate to begin with.”

     What treatment could be worse?

     I’m really offended—things need to change… seriously, it’s not the medieval ages anymore. As a minority, we left-handed people should be treated equally. It’s time to rise up and push back against 
right-supremacy!

Lefties unite!

(While I was writing this, I went to put on my vest and noticed the zipper on it was on the left side, and I thought, “Yay!” until I realised I had put it on inside-out! Lol.)

Sincerely: Reece D.