The Intermediate Sex

A Study of Some Transitional Types of Men and Women

Edward Carpenter

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN: 9781138184220
• eBook ISBN: 9781317291695
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Gender Studies
• Index: Social Sciences

The Intermediate sex collates papers from Edward Carpenter on his ideas about intermediate types. Carpenter claims that there are those in societies who hold an intermediate position between the two sexes and may have an inner sex in their mind that is different from their biological sex. Originally published in 1908, this version in1941, these papers present early observations about gender fluidity in both men and women, studying certain 'types' of intermediate people that he claimed were begin to emerge more obviously at the time of writing. This title will be of interest to students of gender studies.

Appendix

"In this country [Britain] we have too long, from a sense of mock modesty, neglected the science relating to sex. In Germany this is not so. There we find workers who have elaborated for themselves a new science, and who have given to the world knowledge which is of the very utmost importance. We now know that there are females with strong male characteristics, and vice-versa. Anatomically and mentally we find all shades existing from the pure genus man to the pure genus woman. Thus there has been constituted what is well named by an illustrious exponent of the science 'The Third Sex'."—Dr. JAMES BURNET, The Medical Times and Hospital Gazette, vol. xxxiv., No. 1497, 10th November, 1906. London.

"Every citizen of age to fulfil his duties as a citizen, whether he be a father or husband, teacher or pupil, master or servant, official or subordinate, has the right, and owes it as a duty, to know the facts of sexual inversion, to combat and to prevent debauchery, crime and vice, to learn and to teach others the place of inversion in Society, and its morals, the duties of the invert towards himself, and towards other inverts, towards the normal man, and towards women and children, And the duties of the normal man towards the invert are no less—no less difficult, no less indispensable."—M. A. RAFFALOVICH, "Uranisme et Unisexualité." Paris, 1896.

"That sex inversion is not a chance phenomenon. . . appears from the fact that it has been observed at all times and in all places, and among peoples quite separate from each other."—A. MOLL, "Die Konträre Sexualempfindung," 2nd Edition, p. 15. Berlin, 1893.

"Concerning the wide prevalence of sexual inversion, and of homosexual phenomena generally, there can be no manner of doubt. In Berlin, Moll states that he has himself seen between six hundred and seven hundred homosexual persons, and heard of some two hundred and fifty to three hundred others. I have much evidence as to its frequency both in England and the United States. In England, concerning which I can naturally speak with most assurance, its manifestations are well-marked for those whose eyes have been opened. . . . . Among the professional and most cultured element of the middle class in England there must be a distinct percentage of inverts, which may sometimes be as much as five per cent., though such estimates must always be hazardous. Among women of the same class the percentage seems to be at least double—though here the phenomena are less definite and deepseated."—HAVELOCK ELLIS, "Psychology of Sex," vol. Sexual Inversion, pp. 29, 30. Philadelphia, 1901.

"According to the information of De Joux in 'The Disinherited of Love,' the number of Urnings in all Europe is about five millions; about 4.5 per cent, of all males in Europe are Urnings, while only 0.1 per cent, of females are Urningins. A malady therefore— if malady it should be called—which is so widespread certainly demands our deepest interest; and it is strange that it is only since the '70's that this subject has been discussed in scientific literature.

"It is owing to this ignorance that the public mind has been dominated, and still is dominated, by the prejudice, that psychical hermaphroditism and sex-inversion are nothing but crimes, wilful crimes, whereas they proceed necessarily out of the inborn nature of such individuals."—NORBERT GRABOWSKY, "Die verkehrte Geschlechtsempfindung," p. 16. Leipzig, 1894.

Dr. HIRSCHFELD, in his "Statistischen Untersuchunge über den Prozentensatz der Homosexuellen," gives the result of various statistical investigations on this subject; and their remarkable agreement enables him to speak with some confidence. He says (p. 41), "Now we know that we must reckon the numbers of those who vary from the normal, not by fractions of thousands but by fractions of hundreds. The fact that, as a result of these circular enquiries and commissions about the same figure has emerged (for the proportion of exclusively homosexual persons), namely, a figure in the neighbourhood of 1 ½ per cent.—this extraordinary agreement cannot possibly be a chance, but must rest on a law—a law of nature—namely, that only 90 to 95 per cent, of mankind are normally sexual by birth; that about 1 ½ to 2 per cent, are born pure homosexuals (say about 1,000,000 in Germany); and that between the two classes there remain some 4 per cent, who are bisexual by nature."

And again (p. 60), "But what do these figures show? They show that of 100,000 inhabitants on the average only 94,600 are sexually normal, while 5,400 vary from the normal. Of these latter 1,500 are exclusively homosexual, and 3,900 bisexual. While of these last again 700 are predominantly homosexual; so that of 100,000 Germans, 2,200 (or 2.2 per cent.) are either exclusively or predominantly homosexual—making 1,200,000 for the whole German Fatherland."

"Sexual inversion has usually been regarded as psycho-pathological, as a symptom of degeneration; and those who exhibit it have been considered as physically unfit. This view, however, is falling into disrepute, especially as Krafft-Ebing, its principal champion, abandoned it in the later editions of his work. None the less, it is not generally recognised that sexual inverts may be otherwise perfectly healthy, and with regard to other social matters quite normal. When they have been asked if they would have wished matters to be different with them in this respect, they almost invariably answer in the negative."—O. WEININGER, "Sex and Character," ch. iv. Heinemann, London, 1906.

"It is a common belief that a male who experiences love for his own sex must be despicable, degraded, depraved, vicious, and incapable of humane or generous sentiments. If Greek history did not contradict this supposition, a little patient enquiry into contemporary manners would suffice to remove it."—J. ADDINGTON SYMONDS, "A Problem in Modern Ethics," p. 10.

"Mantegazza rightly insists that Urnings are found by no means only among the dregs of the people, but that they are rather to be noted in circles which in respect of culture, wealth, and social position rank among the first. Thus, among the aristocracy without doubt a great number of Urnings are to be found." —A. MOLL, op. cit. p. 76.

"In no rank are there so many Urnings as among servants. One may say that every third male domestic is an Urning."—DE JOUX, "Die Enterbten des Liebesglückes," p. 193. Leipzig, 1893.

"It is therefore certain, as we have seen, that many Urnings come from nervous or pathologically disposed families. . ., All the same, I must say that there is no proof to hand in all cases of sex-inversion among men, that the individuals concerned are thus hereditarily weighted. And besides, there is the consideration that the extension, according to some authors, of hereditary trouble is at present so great that one may prove a tendency to nervous or mental maladies in almost everybody."—A. MOLL, op. cit., p. 221.

"The truth is that we can no more explain the inverted sex-feeling than we can the normal impulse; all the attempts at explanation of these things, and of Love, are defective."—Ibid, p. 253.

"Among the penchants of Urnings one finds not infrequently a great partiality for Art and Music—and indeed, for active interest in the same as well as passive enjoyment. . . . the Actor's talent is especially noticeable among some . . . But it must not be thought that Urnings are only capable of a special activity of the imagination. On the contrary, there are undoubted cases in which they contribute something in the scientific direction . . . Also in Poetry do Urnings occasionally show exceptional talent; especially in love-verses addressed to men."—Ibid, p. 80.

"An examination of my cases [of Inverts] reveals the interesting fact that 68 per cent, possess artistic aptitude in varying degree. Gallon found, from the investigation of nearly 1,000 persons that the average showing artistic tastes in England is only about 30 per cent."— HAVELOCK ELLIS, "Sexual Inversion," p. 173.

"In Antiquity, especially among the Greeks, there seem to have been numbers of men who in their emotional natures were hermaphrodites. I think that the study of psychical hermaphrodisy is most important, and will throw yet greater light on the psychology of Love itself. Observation so far already shows that the same individual at differing times can experience quite different sexual feelings."—A. MOLL, op. cit., p. 200.

"The Urning is capable, through the force of his love, of making the greatest sacrifices for his beloved, and on that account the love of the Urning has been often compared with Woman's love. Just as the Woman's love is stronger and more devoted than that of the normal man, just as it exceeds that of the Man in inwardness, so, according to Ulrichs should the Urning's love in this respect stand higher than that of the woman-loving Man."—Ibid, p. 118.

"Womanish men often know how to treat women better than manly men do. Manly men, except in most rare cases, learn how to deal with women only after long experience, and even then most imperfectly."— O. WEININCER, "Sex and Character," ch. v.

"Is it really the case that all women and men are marked off sharply from each other, the women on the one hand alike in all points, the men on the other? . . . There are transitional forms between the metals and non-metals, between chemical combinations and simple mixtures, between animals and plants, between phanerogams and cryptogams, and between mammals and birds . . . The improbability may henceforth be taken for granted of finding in Nature a sharp cleavage between all that is masculine on the one side and all that is feminine on the other; or that any living being is so simple in this respect that it can be put wholly on one side, or wholly on the other, of the line." —WEININCER, Ibid, introduction, p. 2.

"Upon this, Charon made a rather strange observation. 'We have,' she said, 'with regard to sexual distinctions, notions that were not dreamed of by the primitive simplicity of the people of the age now gone by. From the fact that there are two sexes, and only two, they for a long time drew false inferences. They concluded that a woman is simply a woman, and a man simply a man. In reality this is not so; there are women who are very much women, and women who are very little so. Such differences, concealed in former times by costume and mode of life, and masked by prejudice, stand out clearly in our society. And not only so, but they become more accentuated and apparent in each generation.'"—ANATOLE FRANCE, "Sur la Pierre Blanche," p. 301.

"In every human being there are present both male and female elements, only in normal persons (according to their sex) the one set of elements is more greatly developed than the other. The chief difference in the case of homosexual persons is that in them the male and female elements are more equalized; so that when, in addition, the general development is of a high grade, we find among this class the most perfect types of humanity."—Dr. ARDUIN, "Die Frauenfrage," in Jahrbuch der Sexuellen Zwischenstuten, vol. ii., p. 217. Leipzig, 1900.

"The notion that human beings were originally hermaphroditic is both ancient and widespread. We find it in the book of Genesis, unless indeed there be a confusion here between two separate theories of creation. God is said to have first made man in His image, male and female in one body, and to have bidden them multiply. Later on He created the woman out of part of this primitive man." (See also the myth related by Aristophanes in Plato's Symposium.)— HAVELOCK ELLIS, "Sexual Inversion," p. 229.

"When the sexual instinct first appears in early youth, it seems to be much less specialised than normally it becomes later. Not only is it, at the outset, less definitely directed to a specific sexual end, but even the sex of its object is sometimes uncertain."— Ibid, p. 44.

" In me the homosexual nature is singularly complete, and is undoubtedly congenital. The most intense delight of my childhood (even when a tiny boy in my nurse's charge) was to watch acrobats and riders at the -circus. This was not so much for the skilful feats as on account of the beauty of their persons. Even then I cared chiefly for the more lithe and graceful fellows. People told me that circus actors were wicked and would steal little boys, and so I came to look on my favorites as half-devil and half-angel. When I was older and could go about alone, I would often hang around the tents of travelling shows in hope of catching a glimpse of the actors. I longed to see them naked, without their tights, and used to lie awake at night, thinking of them and longing to be embraced and loved by them."—Ibid, "case" ix., p. 62,

"I was fifteen years and ten-and-a-half months old when the first erotic dream announced the arrival of puberty. I had had no previous experience of sex-satisfaction, either in the Urning direction or in any other. This occurrence therefore came about quite normally. From a much earlier time, however, I had been subject partly to tender yearnings and partly to sensual longing without definite form and purpose— the two emotions being always separate from each other and never experienced for one and the same young man. These aimless sensual longings plagued me often in hours of solitude; and I could not overcome them. They showed themselves first, during my fifteenth year, when I was at school at Detmoid, in the following two ways:—First, they were awakened by a drawing in Normand's "Saülen-ordnungen," of the figure of a Greek god or hero, standing there in naked beauty. This image, a hundred times put away, came again a hundred times before my mind. (I need not say it did not cause the Urning temperament in me; it merely awoke what was slumbering there already—a thing that any other circumstance might have done.) Secondly, when studying in my little room, or when I lay upon my bed before going to sleep, the thought used suddenly and irresistibly to rise up in my mind—" If only a soldier would clamber through the window and come into my room I" Then my imagination painted me a splendid soldier-figure of twenty to twenty-two years old; and I was, as it were, all on fire. And yet my thoughts were quite vague, and undirected to any definite satisfaction; nor had I ever spoken a word with a real soldier." —K. H. ULRICHS, "Memnon," §77. Leipzig, 1898. See also "A Problem in Modern Ethics," p. 73.

" The friendships of this kind which I formed at School were two in number—I shall never forget the absorbing depth and intensity of them. I never talked about them to anyone else, they were much too sacred and serious for that, nor—strange as it may seem— did I ever speak of them to the boys themselves, or indeed, show any signs of affection towards them. If they had been told that I was devoted to their welfare, and willing to sacrifice myself and all I had to it (which was indeed the fact) they would have been simply astonished; more especially as they were both young boys not yet arrived at puberty.

" I am at present somewhat bitterly conscious that in these cases one of the strongest influences for good that ever came into my life was nine-tenths wasted. How much better it all might have been under more favourable surroundings it is impossible to imagine. Still, it was not without its good influence on me, though (owing to their complete ignorance of my feelings) it could have had none whatever on the boys. I was conscious of a bracing and inspiring effect on my whole nature, a confirmed health of body, and most of all, of a greatly increased capacity for work. And doubtless all this might have been intensified a thou sand fold if! had been ever so little guided and encouraged by public opinion sanctioning these friend ships.

The Public School boy has after all strong feelings of honour and fairness: and I am sure much might be done by cultivating the Public Opinion of the school: making devoted and disinterested friendships highly thought of and praised, and condemning as base and mean the least attempt to befoul a young boy's purity through a gross and selfish desire for personal gratification. School public opinion would, I am sure, tend quite readily to flow in such channels. But this would demand an openness of treatment of the whole question such as does not at present exist. That the greatest force the schoolmaster has at his command should be so ignored (and so needlessly) is more than absurd: it is monstrous. And it concerns him as a teacher quite as much as the boys themselves in their relations with each other. I believe that gaining a boy's affection is the necessary preliminary to really teaching him anything. Otherwise you do not really teach him at all."—Private Utter.

"I could tell you a good deal of another equally strong friendship I formed (myself twenty-five, boy fourteen) which was one of the happiest events of my life. It was acknowledged on both sides, but perfectly restrained and pure: and we saw a great deal of each other during most of the school holidays for about a year. I could have done anything with that boy, my influence over him was for the time being I should say unlimited: and undoubtedly immense good accrued to us both."—Ibid.

" In my own school-life—as a day scholar—I had two such friendships, though of course in a day school there was not the same possibility of their development...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Original Title
• Original Copyright
• PREFATORY NOTE
• Contents
• I. INTRODUCTORY
• II. THE INTERMEDIATE SEX
• III. THE HOMOGENIC ATTACHMENT
• IV. AFFECTION IN EDUCATION
• V. THE PLACE OF THE URANIAN IN SOCIETY
• APPENDIX