The Intermediate Sex: A Study of Some Transitional Types of Men and Women

Carpenter, Edward, 1844-1929Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.6
Word count
211K words
Chapters
22

Tags

English Originals Social SciencesGender Relations Social ObservationHuman NatureHumanistic CarePsychological InsightIntellectual EnlightenmentSexual MinoritiesSocial CritiqueMoral DilemmaAcademic StudyGender Studies

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.The Intermediate Sex: A Study of Some Transitional Types of Men and WomenAuthor: Carpenter, Edward, 1844-1929,Language: English, Class: HQ: Social sciences: The family, Marriage, Sex and Gender, Release Date: Dec 18, 2016

Editor's review

Edward Carpenter was a late nineteenth-century British social reformer. In this book he uses the concept of the "intermediate sex" to discuss what were then called transitional types between men and women, attempting to understand same-sex feeling and differences in gender temperament from physiological, psychological, and social angles. Its value lies not in offering scientific conclusions in today's sense, but in showing how a moderate reformer, before modern gender studies had taken shape, used the language available to him to argue for understanding and dignity for a minority group. The prose has a late-Victorian essayistic style, and the argument relies largely on observation and correspondence; today's readers need to read critically and distinguish the limitations of the era from its humanistic concern. It is suitable as a primary source for the history of gender studies, the history of homosexuality, and the history of British social thought, and for readers interested in how the concept of "sexual minorities" evolved.

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Reading tips

  1. Read the introduction or conclusion first to grasp the author's position, then return to his mode of argument
  2. Mark passages carrying the prejudices of the era and consider them against modern gender studies
  3. Pair with background material on late nineteenth-century British social history to understand the context of his vocabulary

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

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FAQ

Are the views in this book still applicable today? The classifications and terminology in the book carry clear limitations of their era and cannot be used directly as contemporary gender theory. Its main value is as a historical document that helps readers understand how sexual minority issues were discussed and defended in earlier times.
What is Carpenter's stance? Carpenter was a moderate social reformer who tended to view so-called "intermediate" people with sympathy and understanding and advocated reducing stigma. His argument is still constrained by the gender notions of his time and requires critical reading.
What background knowledge is needed to read this book? A basic familiarity with modern British history and gender studies will make the reading smoother. If unfamiliar with the social atmosphere of the Victorian era, read a relevant background introduction first before turning to the original text.

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About the author

Carpenter, Edward, 1844-1929 Author

Edward Carpenter (1844-1929) was an English writer and social thinker. Public information on his life and education is limited, and eight of his works are held in this collection. His writing ranges widely, from comparative studies of religious ideas to critiques of civilization and discussions of gender and sexuality. Representative works include Pagan and Christian Creeds, which examines the origin and meaning of religious ideas; The Intermediate Sex, a study of transitional types between men and women; and essay collections such as Civilisation: Its Cause and Cure, which reflect on the ills of modern civilization. He also wrote on marriage and the place of sex-love in society, and published the anti-war pamphlet Never Again! during the First World War. His style combines argument and lyricism, focusing on human evolution and spiritual transformation, and has influenced later thought on sexual minorities and pacifism.