Intermediate Types among Primitive Folk

Intermediate Types among Primitive Folk is a book by Edward Carpenter, first published in 1914. In this concise, observant work Carpenter surveys ethnographic, historical, and literary accounts of gender variation and same-sex relationships across cultures, advancing his idea of “intermediate types” — people whose roles, appearance, or desires do not fit strict male/female binaries.

Written from a late-Victorian/Edwardian perspective, the book combines wide reading in anthropology, classical sources, and folklore with Carpenter’s social-evolutionary thinking. He argues that such “intermediate” persons have played recurring social, religious, and military roles in many societies.

Though shaped by the terminology and assumptions of its era, Carpenter’s study has enduring interest for readers of gender studies and the history of social thought. It is often cited as an early English-language attempt to treat non-normative sexuality and gender as persistent features of human societies rather than moral failings.

The book helped influence later sexologists and early twentieth-century discussions about gender and sexuality, and today it is read both as a historical document and as a source of comparative material for scholars and general readers exploring how different cultures have understood gender variance.