You cut paper with scissors to make handicrafts. You check your email with a click of your mouse on the left side. You take notes from the left side of the papers. Each of these actions is normal in your daily lives.
But it’s a different story for my father: he is left-handed. Scissors and mouses are inconvenient since they are asymmetric. Notes always end up to be smudged. Moreover, hearts I pour on his Latte become peaches because handles of cups are always on the right side. It’s embarrassed at mealtimes since he will end up elbowing me.
The left-handers are a minor group: after all, they only consist of 10% of global populations (Klass, 2011). However, what differentiates them from other minorities like the African Americans and the homosexual is that they are far less noticed. You think about Martin Luther King when talking about civil rights. You always see rainbow flags on parades. Anything for the left-handed? None.
Any inconvenience mentioned might be overcome, but the biggest challenge resides in people’s reactions. According to Perri Klass (2011) from The New York Times, centuries ago, left-handers were connected with higher rates of criminality and dealings with the devil.
Luckily, the stigma has vanished in recent years. Nevertheless, new stereotypes are rising. For instance, my classmate Caroline always feels stressed when writing on the whiteboard: there is always someone shouting, “Wow! You are left-handed! Then you must be super smart, aren’t you?”
Such behaviors are understandable. Some geniuses or celebrities including Aristotle, Mozart, Marie Curie, Bill Gates and Barack Obama are left-handed (Thornhill, 2018). Neuroscientists also suggest that left-handers have a larger corpus callosum, nerve cells connecting brain hemispheres, which makes them process information faster.
However, none of these phenomena should contribute to new positive stereotypes. Unfounded commitment will result in anxiety and stress for left-handers. They are inclined to suffer under pressure, leading to impaired performance and decreased motivations (Smith & Johnson, 2010). Others view their left-handedness as an inherent advantage, causing them to be more overwhelmed whenever they fail
exams. Caroline always bursts into tears when she has no idea about an art project. When I tried to comfort her and told her things happen, she raised her head and said, “But I’m left-handed. They say I should be more creative.”
Dressing up stereotypes as commitment doesn’t add up. Those research results cannot reflect the left-handed person standing in front of us. In an era when the blacks earn the right to vote, when homosexuals are permitted to marry, when women are free to explore STEM, do not continue to stereotype the left-handers. We are different, but we are the same.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jiawei Sun attends a High School affiliated to Renmin University of China, Beijing, China. Her interests include Social Medias, Journalism, Reading and Yoga. She was an editor and writer for her school magazine. She currently has an internship at the Blue Whale Media Company in China and is studying media platforms including YouTube and Instagram.
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