Intermediate Types among Primitive Folk

Edward Carpenter

In this ground-breaking study of homosexuality, Edward Carpenter reviews an extensive body of literature, including accounts of Shamans and Bedarches (transgenders) in tribal society, and same-sex unions in ancient Greece and feudal Japan. This book includes much that has a direct bearing on issues of gay spirituality, including a discussion of the Kedushim, the priests of the ancient Near Eastern Goddess religion, and target of the Levitical anti-sodomy and anti-cross-dressing regulations. There is also a mention of the sanctioned Christian male same-sex unions in the Balkans, which gives a new dimension to recent controversies. The chapter on same-sex unions in feudal Japan is also of particular interest, as it deals with a topic very rarely dealt with by western writers.

Table of contents

• CONTENTS
• NOTE
• INTRODUCTION
• CHAPTER 1. AS PROPHET OR PRIEST
• CHAPTER 2. AS WIZARD OR WITCH
• CHAPTER 3. AS INVENTORS OF THE ARTS AND CRAFTS
• CHAPTER 4. HERMAPHRODISM AMONG GODS AND MORTALS
• PART 2. THE INTERMEDIATE AS WARRIOR
• CHAPTER 5. MILITARY COMRADESHIP AMONG THE DORIAN GREEKS
• CHAPTER 6. THE DORIAN COMRADESHIP IN RELATION TO THE STATUS OF WOMAN
• CHAPTER 7. RELATION TO CIVIC LIFE AND RELIGION
• CHAPTER 8. THE SAMURAI OF JAPAN: AND THEIR IDEAL
• CONCLUSION