What's the explanation why women's clothes button on the left and men's clothes always button on the right?

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Denreledave iranu abacha come and say what you know

Women are to button their shirts. Men's shirt are to be buttoned for them by women. Na joke.

See the attached image.

The people that notice these things sha

I knew this when i was a child and till now haven't gotten answers to that. That was how i knew the difference between a woman's shirt and that of a man. But yet i don't know the rationale behind that.

Just knowing about this

Interesting.


Apparently, there's a number of probable reasons for that. One is because women, typically upper class, used to be dressed by maidervants in the past (I assume the lower class women could not afford fancy shirts and had to wear simple gowns?), and because the majority of people are right-handed, it was easier for the servants to button up from the left.

Another theory is also because women typically hold their babies on the left arm, so it's easier for them to unbutton from the left and access their breasts? And yet another theory is because of horseriding. When women (still in the past) rode horses, they sat sideways, do buttons on the left side prevents the flow of breeze from entering their chest. While for men on the other hand, it was probably because they used to keep their guns/swords/weapons on the left side, and reach for it easily with their right (dominant) hand, say during a war or dueling. Having the button holes on the right might impede the drawing out of a sword.

Another possible reason I found quite funny was due to Napoleon's (the French nationalist) "insecurities."

He used to pose by putting his hand in-between the spaces in his buttons and women used to copy him in mockery. So he ordered that the position of buttons on women's clothing be changed. And finally, another reason might be due to simply gender 'categories.' Pink and dresses for girls; blue and trousers for boys, etc. The difference in button placement might just be another way to allude to difference between men and women, especially when it became popular for women to wear clothes traditionally considered masculine. Or maybe it was just another way to assert the "inferiority" of women. They had to *need* help with buttoning up their clothes, unlike a man who is "self-sufficient" (reminds me of something related to the making of cars, too, being more male-suited. You know, things to structurally and externally handicap women, nothing at all to do with an innate weakness).

It's really interesting how much of Western culture and norms, aided by the Industrial Revolution, has come to defined much of everyday, fashion-wear world over. Just like how pockets on some jeans have a tiny, inner pockets, and how some women jeans' pockets are sewed tight. Possibly "forcing" us into patronising handbag makers to carry our little belongings.

This is literally how the past affects the present, and the present now will influence the future; for some people who do not see any value in courses like history, archeology and other social sciences - sartorial decisions from decades ago are literally still impressing upon our lives.

immortalcrown:
Women are to button shirts for men.

How utterly, quite vacuous this comment is, lmao.