Left handed question?

Question

While reading The Robber Bride (Margret Atwood. Read it, its good :)) she mentions something about left handed people possibly being one half of twins, one of whom died before birth. Is there any evidence to support this theory- macabre but interesting to a left handed person like myself!

Answer 1

Yes Margaret Atwood is a very good writer - I read The Handmaids Tale for A-level - but she writes fiction. I dont think her theory should be taken seriously, in the same way Dan Brown's theories about the Illuminati or Jesus should not be taken seriously. This is what distinguishes a writer from a good writer - they intrigue the reader....

Anyway, about 6 years ago there was a news story that ultrasound scans may cause baby boys to be left handed, as a result of slight brain damage.....This is an interesting story and theory, as my nephew is left-handed and when i was in school, i remember there were more boys left-handed than girls.....

The following articles are very interesting to read:

Answer 2

As a leftie with too much time on his hands and access to the web I have spent some time looking into the causes of lefthandedness. According to statistics approx. 10% of the world's population is left handed and 20% of twins have 1 who is left and 1 right. There are loads of theories as to why left handedness happens, from how the baby lays in the womb to what food the mother eats. With twins there are even more. This theory is a new one on me though.

Answer 3

Im a leftie as is my eldest son. We are not true lefties tho, we are both ambidextrous. Can write with both just mainly use our left.
I've never heard of the twin theory or the difficult birth theory, although myself and my son where difficult births.
Its always said though that left handed people are better artists and more intellegent, Im the latter of them two, better at art than the intellegence side lol!!

Answer 4

I'm left handed. There is all kinds of stories on left handed people, some that even claim we are evil =) Never heared of that though, and I know I was never a twin. My mother did have a miscarriage though less than a month before she got pregnant with me. I was also a complicated birth that required an emergency cesarean. Interesting though.

Answer 5

Great question :) I've not heard of this theory before. With my first 2 pregnancys, both daughters are right handed, but my last pregnancy was twins, Sadly i lost one at 19weeks, but the surviving twin is left handed, which we put down to my husband being left handed. But, it could be possible.

Answer 6

If we believed everything we heard, we would be some strange people!

I don't think being left handed has much (if anything) to do with twins, difficult births or even being evil.

I can write quite well with both hands, was ambidextrous as a child. Now I write mainly with my right hand (but who even writes anymore, typing is the new thing...ha).

I think you can just let this one slide....as for you having a difficult birth or vanishing twins or complications....perhaps we are more likely to have them with our mind set...so think positive!

Answer 7

hi.my daughter is left handed she isn't a twin and there were no signs of her being a twin. i have 2 sons who are left handed. someone answered saying that it could be a more difficult birth with a left handed baby this wasn't true again in my case. my daughter was the easiest pregnancy and birth out of my 3 children.will keep watching though to see if any thing is proven.

Answer 8

I think this is correct. I saw a TV programme a while ago stating that twins are usually a mirror image of each other. The twin that dies is absorbed by the mother's body and she goes on to give birth to the remaining twin.
This is just about believeable but a bit weird I'll grant you.

Answer 9

My mum told me that she had seen this theory on a tv documentary. I'm left handed so thought it very interesting too!
Apparently the theory says that most left handed people are the surviving twin but I don't know why they say this!

Answer 10

I have heard about that. I know of a few left handed people. my husband being one of them and he is a twin and his sister is right handed. I have a friend who is left handed and i don't think she was ever a twin but, i know a guy from when we were little that is left handed but, his twin died before they were ever born.