Difference between revisions of "Safehand"

'''Safehand''' is an [[Alethi]] term for a female's left hand. According to [[Vorin]] cultural tradition, it is obscene for a woman to leave her safehand uncovered. Upper -class women adhere to this tradition by wearing a sleeve that covers their left hand loosely.{{book ref|twok|3}} Often the sleeve has a safepouch sewn on the inside for women to store personal objects.{{book ref|twok|3}} It is considered extremely rude to open another woman's safepouch.{{book ref|twok|39}} Lower class women wear a glove so they can use both hands freely,{{book ref|twok|3}}{{book ref|twok|6}} as do for example [[Thaylen]] women{{book ref|twok|8}}{{book ref|twok|i|4}} and prostitutes provocatively wear no covering at all on their safehand.{{book ref|twok|46}} Some prostitutes will wear fingerless gloves on their safehands in order to be provocative and show others who they are before being hired out.{{book ref|sa2|45}}

In an interview, [[Brandon Sanderson]] stated that the tradition derives in part from "a famous book written by an artist who claimed that true feminine pursuits and arts were those that could be performed with one hand, while masculine arts were those performed with two hands, in a way associating delicacy with women and brute force with men." {{qawob ref|697|2|What is the reasoning behind safehands?|date=Dec, 20104447}}