Southpaws are Handy

Southpaws are handy, at least that's what research indicates. By handy I mean we lefties have a tactical advantage in one-on-one competition. We have an edge on the competition when it's left hand against right hand.

Matt Soniak relayed an article to us that puts a left handed twist on combat and why southpaws have an advantage.

_{Only about 10 percent of the world is left-handed, and with good reason. My southpaw brethren and I are at an extreme disadvantage in the evolutionary race. We’ve been shown to have greater risk of schizophrenia, autism, epilepsy and learning disabilities, and are shorter lived, just plain shorter and more likely to be homosexual than righties. All that makes it difficult for lefties to attract mates, reproduce and pass on their genes, so scientists have been wondering for a long time why left-handedness persists.}

_{A team of researchers at the Institute of Evolutionary Sciences at the University of Montpellier, France who surveyed the existing literature on the evolutionary perspectives of left-handedness, including its mechanisms and the costs and benefits acting as selective forces on the left-handed, say they may have found the secret to southpaw survival. We lefties simply had a tactical advantage in one-on-one competition.}

_{The team’s study suggests that because lefties are in the minority, right-handed opponents may not have been used to the way they fight, and the element of surprise gave lefties an advantage. Their very uncommonness, and a good left hook jab, gave them an edge.}

_{Because the advantage allowed them to survive physical confrontation and win resources and mates, left-handedness became more frequent over the generations through natural selection.}

_{We can see sort of the same thing happening in the success of left-handed boxers like “Gentleman Jim” Corbett and Oscar de la Hoya and left-handed tennis players like John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors. Death isn’t on the line at Wimbledon, but everyone loves a winner, so they attract more sex partners and are more likely to reproduce.}

_{The researchers also noted that lefties in many European countries have higher average incomes and are well represented among gifted children with high IQs. Although an advantage in fist fighting doesn’t explain that, a place at the top of the socio-economic ladder certainly promotes reproductive success, so smarts and cash should result in higher birth rates for lefties and the passing along of left-handedness.}

Being Left Handed could help you if you get in a fight, but hopefully it is competitive in nature and not dangerous. Watch out for my left hook, because southpaws are handy.

Read the original article here.