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• Neurologists, psychologists debunk long-standing cultural beliefs, stigma against left-handed people
• List dangers of switching from left hand to right as Southpaws narrate ordeals
In many cultures across Africa, Southpaws, that is people born left-handed, bear many negative tags. They are described as unclean, a taboo, and in some cases, they are linked to witchcraft. But science has deflated the claims, dismissing them as mere superstition.
The stigma runs deep across ethnic groups in Nigeria where the thinking is that the right hand is an all-purpose part of the body while the left haand only serves as a support.
In Igbo culture, for instance, the left hand, Aka ekpe is the hand you don’t use to give or collect. Among the Hausa, Hannun hagu is for cleaning mess, never for eating, and among the Yoruba people of the South West, elders warn that the left hand, owo osi brings bad luck. A popular saying in Yorubaland asserts that “it is an illegitimate child that points at his father’s house with his left hand.”The result is that children who are born left-handed are made to believe there is something odd about them.
Arising from these negative thinking, some children born left-handed are forced to switch to using their right hands while some who have grown into adulthood sometimes hide their left-handedness to meet societal expectations.
Despite the misgivings, in the classrooms, banks, football pitches, newsrooms, governance, science and engineering fields, many Southpaws have distinguished themselves, emerging as great leaders in their professions.
Neurologists dismiss left-handedness as simply brain wiring, warning that forcing a change can cause permanent anxiety, stammering, and poor handwriting. The medical experts say it is not rebellion. It is not a curse. It is biology. And the clash between culture and brain science is leaving scars nobody sees.
Adaobi Nwosu, a young graphic designer, who was born and raised in Onitsha, the eastern part of Nigeria, where the use of the left hand is predominantly an abomination, narrated her experience as a southpaw.
“My primary school teacher tied my left hand behind my back every day for two years in every academic term. She said she was ‘saving me from shame’. Today I can write with my right hand, but I stammer when I’m nervous.
“My handwriting is not good. I draw better with my left hand. I think I’m better with it. But back then in my village, if you eat with your left hand at a wedding, they say you’ve bewitched the couple. So I eat with my right, and go home to cry.”
Musa Ibrahim, 17, an SS2 Student, also shared his pathetic story.
“They call me Dan baya which means the backward one. In Qur’anic school, my Mallam would cane my left hand until it got swollen. He said the devil eats with the left hand. I really tried to change. But during exams, my right hand shakes and I forget everything.
“My maths teacher, Mr. James, noticed I solved equations with my left hand under the desk. He told me to stop hiding. Last term I scored 89 in Further Maths with my left hand. My father still says I’m disgracing the family name.”
Funke Adebayo, a radio presenter, revealed, “I present the breakfast show. My voice is confident. Once, a caller said I sounded like a ‘Tomboy’ because I was blunt. Maybe it’s true. I’ve always been stubborn. I climbed trees. I played football. My mother said it was because I’m left-handed; that left-handed girls are hard and won’t find husbands. But I’m not hard. I’m just me.”
Beyond these personal accounts of stigma and superstition, experts offer researched scientific insights into brain lateralisation on left-handedness.
Olusegun Fatoki, a cultural historian, sighs when asked about the roots of the taboo.
“In Yoruba cosmology, the right, Otun. represents order, The left represents the opposite, which further means spiritual danger. It’s not hatred. It’s fear. Our fathers didn’t have neuroscience. They had survival. But culture is not static. If a tradition hurts a child, it must be questioned.”
From Zaria, Hajiya Amina Bello, a custodian of Hausa oral traditions, offers a similar reflection.
“We were taught that the left is for what is unclean. That teaching protected hygiene before soap. But today, we have soap. We have knowledge. To beat a child for using the hand Allah created for him is to misunderstand both faith and science. Culture should elevate, not imprison.”
Tunde Alade, a banker, who has a left-handed son, brushes the old cultural belief aside.
“My son Kola is a Southpaw. So what? He writes neater than I do. He plays football and left-footed footballers score excellent goals, too. Look at Messi’s left foot. If I force him to change, I’ll break his confidence. I didn’t bring him to this world to win cultural approval.”
To further back these experiences with science, Olopade Wale Monsuru, a clinical psychologist at Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency, cautions parents against forcing left-handed children to switch to their right hand, warning that the practice could lead to learning and speech complications.
He said: “There has been cultural, religious bias and discrimination against people who are born left-handed because of some superstitious beliefs, even in the design of tools such as scissors, kitchen utensils etc., but it makes sense in the designs of those tools, because over 90 per cent of the world population are right-handed.”
He stressed the need for parents to understand the risks involved in changing a child’s natural handedness.
“Parents need to be sensitised about the implications of switching their children from being naturally left-handed to become right-handed, as the harm caused may include learning disorder, dyslexia, stuttering and some speech disorders although, those who are successfully converted are usually ambidextrous than the unsuccessful ones,” he explained.
Olopade, who disclosed that he was also converted from left to right-handedness, noted that adjusting to the use of right-handed tools requires deliberate effort.
“I am one of those who successfully converted, but it takes a lot of practice to be able to learn and adjust to the demand of using these tools,” he added.
Also speaking, Bartholomew Ogeh, a clinical psychologist at the Kaduna State Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Agency, enlightened that parents, guardians and teachers who compel their left-handed children to switch to their right hand are causing them harm, describing it as counterproductive.
Ogeh concurred that left-handedness is a natural biological trait and not a disorder that requires correction.
“Forcing a child to abandon their left hand can trigger significant psychological and developmental setbacks. These children often suffer emotional distress including anxiety, fear, low self-esteem and persistent self-doubt because of the constant pressure to switch.”
According to the psychologist, the stress from such forced change does not end with emotions. He noted that it can manifest in behavioural deficits such as nail-biting, bed-wetting, social withdrawal and sleep disturbances. Ogeh further warned that academic performance may also be affected.
“A child forced to switch may struggle with reading difficulties, slow or illegible handwriting, and a general failure to master fine motor skills,” he said.
He stressed that since left-handedness is not a medical condition the duty of caregivers is to provide support rather than correction.
“It is essential to let their natural handedness develop without interference. Parents, guardians and teachers must support a child born left-handed to ensure their overall wellbeing and academic success,” Ogeh added.
The psychologist urged schools and homes to create an enabling environment for left-handed pupils, including proper seating arrangements and writing tools, instead of imposing right-hand use on them.
Ngozi Udeh, Consultant Neurologist at Cerebra Wellness Centre, Lagos, further explained that left-handedness occurs in about 10 per cent of the population, adding that it is caused by brain lateralisation.
She said: “The right hemisphere controls the left hand. Forcing a child to switch hands is like forcing the brain to rewire itself under duress. The results are permanent anxiety, induced stammering, poor handwriting, and loss of self-esteem. I have seen adults in their 40s who still feel ‘fake’ because they were never allowed to be themselves.
“We tell parents, the hand is just the servant. The master is the brain. You cannot punish the servant and expect the master to thrive. Some studies suggest left-handed females may exhibit certain tomboy attitudes and some degree of stubbornness due to higher testosterone exposure and different brain organisation. But stubbornness is not a disease. It is leadership. It is resilience.”
Kemi Ojo, Paediatric Neurologist in Port Harcourt, questioned how being left-handed affects femininity and added that it doesn’t.
“Femininity is not in the hand. It is in character, in grace, in strength. A left-handed woman can be a mother, a CEO, or a poet. To say she is less ‘woman’ because of her hand is to reduce womanhood to superstition. I have left-handed female patients who are models, lawyers, and mothers. Their only complaint is society, not biology.
“The stigma creates what we call ‘situational anxiety’. The child is not anxious because he is left-handed. He is anxious because he is caught being left-handed. Remove the shame, and you remove the trauma. Lefties often have beautiful handwriting, strong spatial skills, and creative thinking. We should be harnessing that, not beating it out.”
Religious voices echo the call for balance, as Blaise Iwuogo, a counsellor dismissed claims that being born left-handed carries any spiritual curse or demonic undertone, insisting that the Bible does not condemn left-handedness.
Iwuogo, also a cleric, made the clarification while addressing misconceptions around left-handed children in many Nigerian homes.
According to him, Scripture teaches no spiritual significance, good or bad, attached to being left-handed. He quoted Genesis 1:31, noting that after creation, “God saw everything He had made, and behold, it was very good.”
He pointed to biblical examples to buttress his position, noting that God used left-handed people for strategic purposes. He cited Judges 3:15-21, where Ehud, “a man left-handed,” was used to deliver Israel from the Moabites. He also cited Judges 20:16, which referenced 700 elite Benjamite soldiers who were left-handed and “could sling a stone at a hair and not miss.”
In the larger society, many left-handed people have been successful and well celebrated. Very important personalities like former US presidents, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, and a former Lagos State governor in Nigeria, Babatunde Fashola, among several others turned out to be great leaders. In sports, the list is endless, but Diego Maradona, and Lionel Messi stand out in football.
A visit to a calligraphy exhibition by the reporter revealed that some lefties have beautiful handwriting fluid, artistic, and defiant.
In music, left-handed guitarists like Jimi Hendrix redefined sound. In science, Einstein, Newton, and Marie Curie were all believed to be left-leaning, leaving no one in doubt that left handedness is not a defect.
