Why do so many women cover their thumb when they make a fist?

Question

I work in healthcare and I see this very often and only with women. If I ask them to make a fist, they curl their four fingers over their thumb, as oppossed to the standard fist which would have the thumb on the outside, covering the first 1 or 2 fingers. If someone were to actually punch something with the thumb on the inside, they would be lucky not to break their thumb. I realize that women are probably less likely to punch things in general, but seriously what if they were punching dough or something? It just seems so unnatural.

Update:

I'm not saying that most women do this, just that whenever I see this it's always a woman who does it. I would estimate maybe 20% of my female patients do this compared to 0% of males.

Rocket Man (Lv. 9999) · Accepted Answer

Actually it's true, and it's something I noticed back when I practiced TKD! All the girls in the class would punch like that. They also tend to "swing" their arms around to punch a target, whereas a man will "shoot" the punch towards their target. I don't know why this happens.

They Don&#39;t Like Me! · Answer

Could be a few reasons....

A woman that has nails that are longer than 1/4 of an inch can not make a tight fist, if she does not put her thumb in her hand before making the fist. Longer nails dig into the palms, causing pain, which prevents a tight first from occuring.

Also, some women do this just to make a tighter fist, regardless of nail length.

Some do this because the thumb nail is long and do not want to break it (if the fist were made for fighing purposes)

Some may do this because they were never taught now to make a "fist" in the fighting sense of the word.

~The Cat~ · Answer

I just made a fist and the thumb was outside the fingers, sticking straight up.

Yeah woman.

Puppies lovely · Answer

Punching dough? Haha oooookay. Anyways im a girl and I guess it just feels natural to make a fist that way.the answer was very simple.

? · Answer

as the weaker and inferiour sex.... women lack all sorts of things... including the natrual abbility to know how to punch.

maby if mern started hitting women more often... like women deserve... women will learn how to punch properly.... rather then thinking they won a fight becuase a man gave them sexist special treatment and let the pathetic girl hit him with her patheticly weak hands.

? · Answer

Because it will make their thumb seem like a penis and the rest of their hand their vagina.

Victor · Answer

Because they don't want to chip a nail.

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Why do so many women cover their thumb when they make a fist?

7 Answers