Being Left-Handed Was Once Illegal — This Man’s Rant Has a Twist You Won’t See Coming

Today, we live in a world where by and large, there are left-handed people and right-handed people, and whichever you are has no bearing on the way people see you or the opportunities you are afforded in your life. But that wasn't always the case.

A TikToker named Ian (@ianllightfoot) was sure to remind viewers that the judgment of left-handed individuals often carried legal ramifications as it was once against the law for folks to be left-hand dominant.

His video can be viewed as a stark reminder that, in spite of all the ways we've managed to make life more comfortable for ourselves over the last 300,000 years or so, human beings have had some pretty backward beliefs. Ian delivers a rapid-fire monologue delineating some of the more unsavory historical points pertaining to our collective treatment of left-handed people in his viral TikTok.

"Remember how being left-handed used to be widely frowned upon and even illegal in some countries? And less than four percent of the population admitted to being left-handed. But then in the early 20th century society decided to stop caring about it?" he asks.

He continues with his relentless breakdown: "And let people use whatever hand felt natural?" At this point in the clip, he quickly takes a deep breath and goes on. "And then over the next few short years, the population of left-handers jumped from four percent to 12 percent and then immediately plateaued at that number and has not risen above in the last 65 years?"

Then, Ian takes a bite of popcorn and says into the video, "This is not a video about left-handed people."

While his video was a setup to have folks think about how society's attitudes toward the LGBTQ+ community have changed drastically in just a matter of decades, his statistics and facts pertaining to left-hand dominant individuals ring true as well.

Healthline reports that around 10 percent of the world's population is left-handed. Furthermore, the illegality of left-hand dominance was practiced in some countries. When Albania was under communist rule, for instance, if someone was found "guilty" of being left-handed, it was grounds for criminal punishment.

In Japan, right up until the early 20th century, a man could legally divorce his wife without fault if she was left-handed.

And while it was never illegal in America to be left-handed, that didn't mean there wasn't a stigma surrounding it. One that Time says dates back to the belief that witches and practitioners of the dark arts would utilize their left hands for nefarious purposes. It was also thought that Satan himself was left-handed.

What ultimately changed people's perceptions towards left-handed individuals? If you hate capitalism, you may want to plug your ears on this one: commerce. Businesses decided that there was a whole specific market niche of left-handed products they could be manufacturing and selling to a sizable demographic of individuals who've been ostracized for so long.

Imagine hiding your left-handedness and then, some English dude named William Gruby in 1968 opens a store in London's West End called Anything Left-Handed Ltd., which sells a wide variety of goods traditionally designed with right-handed dominant people in mind, but reversed.

The store still operates as an online retailer selling notebooks, scissors, can openers, carving sets, peelers, guitar instructional manuals for lefties, and a slew of other products.

Additionally, the parallels Ian made towards the demonization of left-handed individuals and homosexual people throughout the course of human history are appropriate on multiple fronts.

For one, homosexuality is still a crime in some countries around the world. Percentage-wise, the number of left-handed individuals and those who identify as homosexual are pretty close. NBC News reported in 2023 that nine percent of adults surveyed in 30 different countries said they were gay.

If 10 percent of the population has a quality that doesn't hurt anyone else, like, say, being left-handed or being part of the LGBTQ+ community, you'd think we'd be able to let people live.