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It could also be that when fighting (pre guns) people with left handed weapons took normal right handers off guard (sort of like how in baseball a leftie might
by Melatonic 2y ago
It could also be that when fighting (pre guns) people with left handed weapons took normal right handers off guard (sort of like how in baseball a leftie might throw off other players). I can imagine in a sword battle if you are used to fighting people right handing swords that suddenly fighting a left handed person could be unexpected and disadvantage you.
Where I am going with this is that it might not be that left handedness directly correlates with violence in any way - but perhaps societies with more left handed people were simply more likely to survive in more war like times.
- giraffe_lady 2y agoYes left-handed advantage is a major thing in combat sports including fencing. IIRC close to 50% of professional boxers and fencers are left handed, which is similar to the rate for pitchers I believe.
- n4r9 2y agoThis study suggests 25% among top-rate boxers: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/286024810_The_influence_of_the_boxing_stance_on_performance_in_professional_boxers https://www.researchgate.net/publication/286024810_The_influ... Which is still higher than average, and around the level seen in more violent societies. I think it makes sense that it wouldn't get up to 50% since you're sampling from a smaller pool in the first place.
- giraffe_lady 2y agoThey're also conflating stance and handedness, which may make sense in boxing I don't know much about that sport. But in judo for example there are other factors in stance choice and only about half of left handers mainly use the "left handed" stance, and plenty of right handers prefer it also. Overall probably just really hard to get good universal data on this. I'm curious about fencing though. Another sport I don't know much about.
- n4r9 2y agoThis is the explanation I know of. And I didn't mean to suggest anything else in my post!