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From: karen@randvax.UUCP (Karen Isaacson)
Newsgroups: net.women
Subject: Re: Shirt buttons & left-handed-ness
Message-ID: <2426@randvax.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 19-Apr-85 13:08:20 EST
Article-I.D.: randvax.2426
Posted: Fri Apr 19 13:08:20 1985
Date-Received: Mon, 22-Apr-85 00:23:19 EST
References: <1649@decwrl.UUCP> <1648@ittvax.UUCP>
Organization: Rand Corp., Santa Monica
Lines: 39

> > Does anyone know why (historically and currently) women's shirts button
> > right over left and men's button left over right (or is it vice versa)?
> > 
> > Elizabeth Clayton
> > ...decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-satan!clayton
> 
> ***************************************************************
> A possible explanation comes from the biology of the brain. 
> 
> Statistically, most WOMEN are RIGHT-BRAINED (ie. the right part of
> their brain is more developed than the left part), while most 
> MEN are LEFT-BRAINED...
> 
> Because the SYMMETRY of the human nervous system, the left part
> of the brain controls the right parts of the human body (arms,
> hands, legs..) while the right part of the brain controls the
> left body parts.  
> 
> Therefore, most women are cleverer with their left hands than
> they are with their right hands, which makes it easier
> for them to button right-over-left buttons than the other way
> around. This is why male shirts are left over right buttoned,
> while female shirts are right over left buttoned.
> 
> Also, statistically, more women are left-handed than men. 

Two remarks - if most women are cleverer with their left hands, then
you'd expect most women to be left-handed.  In particular, most women
would have to be left-handed in order for this to have impacted the
design of shirt-buttons.  More women than men being left-handed isn't
enough of an explanation.

Also, and this is anecdotal, I know far more left-handed men than women.
And the left-handed men tended to be brilliant mathematicians, etc., as
opposed to poets.  The correlation between left/right brain - science/
poetry - right-handed/left-handed doesn't seem to be very strong.
Does anyone have some good statistics?
-- 
decvax!randvax!karen