Handedness and Sexual Preference

I been Ayn Randed, nearly branded
A Communist, 'cause I'm left-handed
— Paul Simon, "A Simple Desultory Philippic"
Bespectacled former Texas Governor Rick Perry stuck his foot in it again recently by comparing homosexuality to alcoholism. I think we can offer a little faint praise in that at least he didn’t compare it to bestiality, and did, sort of, acknowledge that there is a hereditary component to one’s sexual orientation. But his understanding of the relationship between heredity and personality is so superficial that he could only think in terms of maladies.

I would like to offer an analogy for sexual preference that might actually be apt in the sociological and maybe even the physiological sense. I offer it for the edification of those of us who are uncomfortable with or simply don’t really understand the phenomenon of homosexuality, and for the use and support of those of us who are comfortable with it in discussions with the former.

I think it’s like handedness. Begging your indulgence:

Most people are right-handed; a minority are left-handed. The numbers vary, but the estimates of left-handedness that I found were typically in the 12-15% range. This is similar to the estimates of that portion of the population that are generally attracted to their same sex. But very few of us are completely right- or left-handed. Handedness is on a spectrum between those two poles; most of us favor one hand or the other — some of us more so. Some of us  favor neither — we’re bi-handed, go both ways, one might say, and the word we use is “ambidextrous”; interestingly, there appears to be no similar word for being lopsidedly one way or the other. Again, sexual preference is a spectrum. Most of us prefer one sex or the other, but most of us also occasionally experience, or at least empathize with, the alternative attraction (c’mon, admit it, it’s OK). Sure, some of us are lopsidedly hetero- — and vice versa — and some of us enjoy playing for both teams. Our word for that is “bisexual” — “ambisexual” apparently never caught on, and again, there’s no word for lopsidedness in one’s sexual preference. Maybe we could use “lopsidedly”, as in Moms Mabley was really lopsidedly lesbian”.

But sexual preference is a preference, after all. Yeah, a really strong preference, but it isn’t absolutely determinative of behavior. Putting aside health or similar issues, there’s no reason in principle why a same-sex-attracted person couldn’t engage in sex with someone of the other sex, maybe even enjoy it; and there’s no reason in principle why an opposite-sex-attracted person couldn’t engage in sex with someone of the same sex — and maybe enjoy it. Same thing with handedness. My Mom was left-handed. She went to elementary school in the late 1920s, and at that time all children, including the left-handed, were taught to write with their right hand, and my Mom was one of those; all her life, she did everything with her left hand except write. Of course, since so many everyday tools, from scissors and automobile ignition switches to musical instruments and mustache cups are biased towards the right hand, one might argue that since they need to so much more routinely, it’s easier for a left-handed person to behave in a right-handed manner than for a right-handed person to act left-handed.

They did that with my Mom because there was a time — until quite recently, in fact — when left-handedness was considered a malady, even a moral failing (sound familiar?); left-handed children were taught, sometimes rather harshly, to use their right hand. This goes back a long way; it’s even in the language. My OS X dictionary defines “dexterous” as “demonstrating neat skill, esp. with the hands”. It derives from Latin for “the right side”. Someone who’s “ambidextrous” is someone with, well, two right hands. On the other, um, hand, “sinister” derives from the Latin for “from the left”; it’s a term from heraldry, but mostly now it connotes ominousness or wickedness. A poor dancer has two left feet. There’s a word for being equally inept with both hands: ambisinister”. Left-handedness was even once seen as a sign of being a witch. English is perhaps worse than the Latinate languages, in that “right” has come to mean not only the direction, but “correct” or “proper”. Only baseball, it seems, truly values the left-handed.

And as with sexual preference, we don’t understand what determines it. There’s clearly a hereditary component. Not only was my Mom left-handed, but so was her mother, as is my sister’s daughter; my sister, however, is right-handed, as am I. But unlike eye color or the shape of one’s ear, these hereditary variations are the basis of a behavior pattern. There appears to be a developmental component, and it’s very likely determined before birth; fetal handedness can often be observed, particularly later in the pregnancy. Recent neurological research has revealed that the timing of the secretion of certain hormones (e.g., sex hormones) during development, by a few days or even hours, can affect parts of one’s personality that were previously thought to be learned. Handedness may be one of those, as may sexual preference. One difference is that the latter usually isn’t expressed until puberty.

Incidentally, in case you were wondering, non-humans exhibit handedness; I'm convinced my cat is left-handed.

I freely recognize, however, that this model doesn’t address the “T” part of LGBT. I’m completely ignorant of this, but my understanding is that transgender behavior is independent of sexual preference. I welcome enlightenment in this area. Also, I apologize if I’ve offended anyone; please accept my assurance that it was purely unintentional, I’m not trying to judge anyone or anyone’s behavior. I honestly think this is a useful analogy. Indeed, I suspect that as we learn more about these two phenomena, we’ll find real developmental parallels.