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From: ecl@ahutb.UUCP (e.c.leeper)
Newsgroups: net.women
Subject: Re: Shirt buttons
Message-ID: <665@ahutb.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 15-Apr-85 09:38:52 EST
Article-I.D.: ahutb.665
Posted: Mon Apr 15 09:38:52 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 16-Apr-85 06:54:33 EST
References: <1649@decwrl.UUCP>
Organization: AT&T Information Systems Labs, Holmdel NJ
Lines: 19

Historically, men's shirts button left over right so that men could rip off
their jacket with their left hand while drawing their sword with their right.
(Yes, this assumes everyone was right-handed.)

My guess is that women's shirts usually button right over left because when
women started to wear shirts that buttoned, the religious injunction against
women "wearing that which pertains to a man" was still strong (hey, that was
one of the things that got Jeanne d'Arc in trouble!), so they made the buttons
go the other way.

These days, I've seen women's shirts that button left over right--they're
usually made by companies that make men's shirts also and who have obviously
decided that's it's more cost-effective to make *all* their shirts the same
way.  I'm also seeing more women's shirts with the breast pocket (thank
goodness), so I suspect in a few years, the difference may well be historical.

					Evelyn C. Leeper
For now, I am				...ihnp4!ahutb!ecl
But, on May 1, I become			...ihnp4!mtgzz!ecl