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The Left-Handed Agenda

 

The graph on the left shows the percentage of Americans who identified as left-handed between the years 1880 and 2000. On the surface, one could infer that there are more left-handed people in America now than there were 150 years ago. If, however, one would want to do a little critical thinking about the graph and its implications, one might surmise a different reason for the growth shown.

In 2023, it is hard to imagine a time in America when left-handed people were forced to be "retrained" to use their right hands, but left-handedness in the 1800s in America was often considered inferior, dirty, immoral, and even satanic.

This negative view of left-handedness can be tracked throughout history across multiple cultures wherein children were to be punished for using the left hand for certain tasks as it was considered unclean. In American schools into the early 1900s, students were reprimanded for using their left hands to write. Parents often tried to hide their children's left-handedness for fear of social judgment or worse.

With this information in mind, and considering the fact that there does not appear to be any biological explanation as to how left-handedness could grow nearly 10% in just 50 years and then plateau for the next 50 years, it is reasonable to suggest that there is, in fact, not a greater percentage of left-handed people in America than there was 150 years ago.

In this figure, the graph shows percentages of left-handed people across different countries in 2009. Once again, surface level inferences could be made from these statistics, but digging into the cultural perceptions of left-handedness within each of these countries will show that a lack of social acceptance is what causes these percentages to be so low in other countries. Some languages are also more difficult to write with your left hand even if it is your dominant hand.

There's no question, even today in America, this is a right-handed world. Left-handers often complain about the little things that are more difficult simply because we have created a society with right-handedness in mind. Left-handed people often get led or ink all over their hand when writing because, rather than the pen following their right hand, their left hand slides along the paper after it, picking up any residual ink or led. Notebooks can also be annoying as students are typically encouraged to write on the front side of pages, meaning that left handed people will have to rest their hands right on the hard metal rings that hold the notebook together.

While the world may always be catered to right-handed people, at least we are progressing toward a world-wide society of acceptance in which left-handed people are allowed to be themselves and use the hands they were dealt.

Now, let's examine another graph, this one showing percentages of individuals who self-identify as part of the LGBTQIA+ community across multiple generations. Much like the increased percentages of left-handed individuals in America, we likewise see an increase in LGBTQIA+ individuals.

Now, before we get too far into our analysis of this graph, lets remember our previous conclusion that rather than there being a genetic reason or some kind of social pressure for people to identify as left-handed, the likely reasoning is that left-handed people simply feel more comfortable identifying as left-handed in today's society.

Could the same also be true for this new graph? In 2015, gay marriage was legalized in America. According to this graph, the oldest of Gen-Z would have just been entering adulthood that year, meaning they would all be entering adulthood with the knowledge that, if nothing else, the government supported their right to love who they love.

Now, as for Millennials and Gen-X, it is them who we owe for the achievement of legalizing gay marriage, breaking stigmas, raising awareness, and continually increasing social acceptance, paving a way for Gen-Z to reach adulthood in a world that accepts them for who they are, whether gay, straight, or bi, transgender, non-binary, or left-handed. From the Stonewall riots to those who fought for our rights within the goverment, they have done their best to make the world we have today. We are creating a world, not in which there are more LGBTQIA+ or left-handed people, but in which more of them are happy and comfortable being who they were born to be.

The next time you find yourself falling into homophobic or transphobic thinking, remind yourself how ridiculous the "left-hand-phobic" people who lived 150 years ago look to you now, and then think about how ridiculous you might look to society in the next 150 years.

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