>>>>
>>>>This "sword arm" thing is interesting; I once read that the reason why women's and men's clothes fasten on different sides is to do with that too:
>>>>
>>>>In the days when cloaks etc, were secured by a pin or brooch, the woman needed access to hers with her right hand, cos the left arm supported a baby, whereas a man, needing his sword-arm free accessed his wih his left hand.
>>>>
>>>>Apochryphal or not, it makes sense.
>>>
>>>
>>>What I read is that wealthy women (unlike wealthy men) were not expected to have to dress themselves, and it was easier for the 'ladies maids' to fasten the clothes on a woman if the buttons were reversed.
>>
>>So if you went into the Wal-Mart of the day the peasants' clothes would have all had the same fastening for men and women?
>
>Probably not. If clothing for the wealthy was made with the buttons on a certain side, then that was probably considered the norm.
>
>>
>>Why would it be easier whichever hands the lady's maids used? Women today have no problem fastening buttons with their left hands
>
>The maid would be facing the Lady, so the hands would be reversed. Showing dexterity with the left hand back in those days might have gotten you burned as a witch.

I was in kindergarten in Catholic School in 1947. My friend Carol Harney was left handed. When Carol used her left hand Sister Mary Saint Stanislaus would hit the back of Carol's hand with an 18” ruler and yell, “The left hand is the hand of the devil”! The good old days!