Abstract

90% of human beings are right-handed. Naturally, the human world is dexterocentric, or designed for encounter with the right hand. Moments of this right hand bias are widely recognized, and, through devices such as left-handed scissors, coffee mugs, and wooden spoons, non-right-handers fi nd accommodation. From the perspective of one-off accommodations, however, the extent of right hand bias is unclear. This paper offers a unifying framework for understanding right hand bias. It focuses not on which hand is used, but on how the hands are used in space. This is a novel approach to laterality studies. I first argue that differences in how left and right-handers inhabit space entail dissimilar left and right-handed body comportments. I next argue that the norms governing spatiality conform to the right-handed comportment, yet apply to all. I conclude that right hand biased norms are pervasive. We can next ask if they are oppressive.