The Intermediate Sex
_Works by Edward Carpenter_
ANGELS’ WINGS
ART OF CREATION
CIVILIZATION: ITS CAUSE AND CURE
DAYS WITH WALT WHITMAN
DRAMA OF LOVE AND DEATH
ENGLAND’S IDEAL
FROM ADAM’S PEAK TO ELEPHANTA
HEALING OF NATIONS
INTERMEDIATE TYPES
AMONG PRIMITIVE FOLK
IOLÄUS: AN ANTHOLOGY OF FRIENDSHIP
LOVE’S COMING OF AGE
MY DAYS AND DREAMS
PAGAN AND CHRISTIAN CREEDS
PROMISED LAND
TOWARDS DEMOCRACY
TOWARDS INDUSTRIAL FREEDOM
VISIT TO A GÑANI
CHANTS OF LABOUR
The Intermediate
Sex
_A Study of Some Transitional Types
of Men and Women_
BY
EDWARD CARPENTER
[Illustration]
LONDON: GEORGE ALLEN & UNWIN LTD.
RUSKIN HOUSE, 40 MUSEUM STREET, W.C.1
_First published_ _1908_
_Reprinted_ _1909_
” _1912_
” _1916_
” _1918_
” _1921_
[_All rights reserved._]
“_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._”
O. WEININGER.
Prefatory Note
TO FIRST EDITION
The following papers, now collected in book-form, have been written--and
some of them published--on various occasions during the last twelve or
fourteen years, and in the intervals of other work; and this must be my
excuse for occasional repetitions or overlapping of matter, which may be
observable among them. I have thought it best, however, to leave them as
they stand, as in this way each is more complete in itself. The second
essay, which gives its title to the book, has already appeared in my
“Love’s Coming-of-Age” (edition 1906), but is reprinted here as belonging
more properly to this volume.
A collection of quotations from responsible writers, who touch on various
sides of the subject, is added at the end, to form an Appendix--which the
author thinks will prove helpful, though he does not necessarily endorse
all the opinions presented.
E. C.
Contents
_Page_
PREFATORY NOTE 7
I. INTRODUCTORY 9
II. THE INTERMEDIATE SEX 16
III. THE HOMOGENIC ATTACHMENT 39
IV. AFFECTION IN EDUCATION 83
V. THE PLACE OF THE URANIAN IN SOCIETY 107
APPENDIX 131
I
Introductory
The subject dealt with in this book is one of great, and one may say
growing, importance. Whether it is that the present period is one of
large increase in the numbers of men and women of an intermediate or
mixed temperament, or whether it merely is that it is a period in which
more than usual attention happens to be accorded to them, the fact
certainly remains that the subject has great actuality and is pressing
upon us from all sides. It is recognised that anyhow the number of
persons occupying an intermediate position between the two sexes is
very great, that they play a considerable part in general society, and
that they necessarily present and embody many problems which, both for
their own sakes and that of society, demand solution. The literature
of the question has in consequence already grown to be very extensive,
especially on the Continent, and includes a great quantity of scientific
works, medical treatises, literary essays, romances, historical novels,
poetry, etc. And it is now generally admitted that some knowledge and
enlightened understanding of the subject is greatly needed for the use
of certain classes--as, for instance, medical men, teachers, parents,
magistrates, judges, and the like.
That there are distinctions and gradations of Soul-material in relation
to Sex--that the inner psychical affections and affinities shade off
and graduate, in a vast number of instances, most subtly from male to
female, and not always in obvious correspondence with the outer bodily
sex--is a thing evident enough to anyone who considers the subject; nor
could any good purpose well be served by ignoring this fact--even if it
were possible to do so. It is easy of course (as some do) to classify
all these mixed or intermediate types as _bad_. It is also easy (as some
do) to argue that just because they combine opposite qualities they are
likely to be _good_ and valuable. But the subtleties and complexities
of Nature cannot be despatched in this off-hand manner. The great
probability is that, as in any other class of human beings, there will be
among these too, good and bad, high and low, worthy and unworthy--some
perhaps exhibiting through their double temperament a rare and beautiful
flower of humanity, others a perverse and tangled ruin.
Before the facts of Nature we have to preserve a certain humility and
reverence; nor rush in with our preconceived and obstinate assumptions.
Though these gradations of human type have always, and among all peoples,
been more or less known and recognised, yet their frequency to-day, or
even the concentration of attention on them, may be the indication of
some important change actually in progress. We do _not_ know, in fact,
what possible evolutions are to come, or what new forms, of permanent
place and value, are being already slowly differentiated from the
surrounding mass of humanity. It may be that, as at some past period of
evolution the worker-bee was without doubt differentiated from the two
ordinary bee-sexes, so at the present time certain new types of human
kind may be emerging, which will have an important part to play in the
societies of the future--even though for the moment their appearance is
attended by a good deal of confusion and misapprehension. It may be so;
or it may not. We do not know; and the best attitude we can adopt is one
of sincere and dispassionate observation of facts.
Of course wherever this subject touches on the domain of love we may
expect difficult queries to arise. Yet it is here probably that the
noblest work of the intermediate sex or sexes will be accomplished,
as well as the greatest errors committed. It seems almost a law of
Nature that new and important movements should be misunderstood and
vilified--even though afterwards they may be widely approved or admitted
to honour. Such movements are always envisaged first from whatever aspect
they may possibly present, of ludicrous or contemptible. The early
Christians, in the eyes of Romans, were chiefly known as the perpetrators
of obscure rites and crimes in the darkness of the catacombs. Modern
Socialism was for a long time supposed to be an affair of daggers and
dynamite; and even now there are thousands of good people ignorant enough
to believe that it simply means “divide up all round, and each take his
threepenny bit.” Vegetarians were supposed to be a feeble and brainless
set of cabbage-eaters. The Women’s movement, so vast in its scope and
importance, was nothing but an absurd attempt to make women “the apes
of men.” And so on without end; the accusation in each case being some
tag or last fag-end of fact, caught up by ignorance, and coloured by
prejudice. So commonplace is it to misunderstand, so easy to misrepresent.
That the Uranian temperament, especially in regard to its affectional
side, is not without faults must naturally be allowed; but that it has
been grossly and absurdly misunderstood is certain. With a good deal of
experience in the matter, I think one may safely say that the defect
of the male Uranian, or Urning,[1] is _not_ sensuality--but rather
_sentimentality_. The lower, more ordinary types of Urning are often
terribly sentimental; the superior types strangely, almost incredibly
emotional; but neither _as a rule_ (though of course there must be
exceptions) are so sensual as the average normal man.
This immense capacity of emotional love represents of course a great
driving force. Whether in the individual or in society, love is eminently
creative. It is their great genius for attachment which gives to the best
Uranian types their penetrating influence and activity, and which often
makes them beloved and accepted far and wide even by those who know
nothing of their inner mind. How many so-called philanthropists of the
best kind (we need not mention names) have been inspired by the Uranian
temperament, the world will probably never know. And in all walks of
life the great number and influence of folk of this disposition, and the
distinguished place they already occupy, is only realised by those who
are more or less behind the scenes. It is probable also that it is this
genius for emotional love which gives to the Uranians their remarkable
_youthfulness_.
Anyhow, with their extraordinary gift for, and experience in, affairs
of the heart--from the double point of view, both of the man and of the
woman--it is not difficult to see that these people have a special work
to do as reconcilers and interpreters of the two sexes to each other.
Of this I have spoken at more length below (chaps. ii. and v.). It is
probable that the superior Urnings will become, in affairs of the heart,
to a large extent the teachers of future society; and if so that their
influence will tend to the realisation and expression of an attachment
less exclusively sensual than the average of to-day, and to the diffusion
of this in all directions.
While at any rate not presuming to speak with authority on so difficult
a subject, I plead for the necessity of a patient consideration of it,
for the due recognition of the types of character concerned, and for some
endeavour to give them their fitting place and sphere of usefulness in
the general scheme of society.
One thing more by way of introductory explanation. The word Love is
commonly used in so general and almost indiscriminate a fashion as
to denote sometimes physical instincts and acts, and sometimes the
most intimate and profound feelings; and in this way a good deal of
misunderstanding is caused. In this book (unless there be exceptions in
the Appendix) the word is used to denote the inner devotion of one person
to another; and when anything else is meant--as, for instance, sexual
relations and actions--this is clearly stated and expressed.
II
The Intermediate Sex.
“Urning men and women, on whose book of life Nature has written her
new word which sounds so strange to us, bear such storm and stress
within them, such ferment and fluctuation, so much complex material
having its outlet only towards the future; their individualities
are so rich and many-sided, and withal so little understood,
that it is impossible to characterise them adequately in a few
sentences.”--_Otto de Joux._
In late years (and since the arrival of the New Woman amongst us) many
things in the relation of men and women to each other have altered, or
at any rate become clearer. The growing sense of equality in habits
and customs--university studies, art, music, politics, the bicycle,
etc.--all these things have brought about a _rapprochement_ between the
sexes. If the modern woman is a little more masculine in some ways than
her predecessor, the modern man (it is to be hoped), while by no means
effeminate, is a little more sensitive in temperament and artistic in
feeling than the original John Bull. It is beginning to be recognised
that the sexes do not or should not normally form two groups hopelessly
isolated in habit and feeling from each other, but that they rather
represent the two poles of _one_ group--which is the human race; so
that while certainly the extreme specimens at either pole are vastly
divergent, there are great numbers in the middle region who (though
differing corporeally as men and women) are by emotion and temperament
very near to each other.[2] We all know women with a strong dash of
the masculine temperament, and we all know men whose almost feminine
sensibility and intuition seem to belie their bodily form. Nature, it
might appear, in mixing the elements which go to compose each individual,
does not always keep her two groups of ingredients--which represent
the two sexes--properly apart, but often throws them crosswise in a
somewhat baffling manner, now this way and now that; yet wisely, we must
think--for if a severe distinction of elements were always maintained
the two sexes would soon drift into far latitudes and absolutely cease
to understand each other. As it is, there are some remarkable and (we
think) indispensable types of character in whom there is such a union or
balance of the feminine and masculine qualities that these people become
to a great extent the interpreters of men and women to each other.
There is another point which has become clearer of late. For as people
are beginning to see that the sexes form in a certain sense a continuous
group, so they are beginning to see that Love and Friendship--which
have been so often set apart from each other as things distinct--are in
reality closely related and shade imperceptibly into each other. Women
are beginning to demand that Marriage shall mean Friendship as well as
Passion; that a comrade-like Equality shall be included in the word Love;
and it is recognised that from the one extreme of a ‘Platonic’ friendship
(generally between persons of the same sex) up to the other extreme of
passionate love (generally between persons of opposite sex) no hard and
fast line can at any point be drawn effectively separating the different
kinds of attachment. We know, in fact, of Friendships so romantic in
sentiment that they verge into love; we know of Loves so intellectual and
spiritual that they hardly dwell in the sphere of Passion.
A moment’s thought will show that the general conceptions indicated
above--if anywhere near the truth--point to an immense diversity of human
temperament and character in matters relating to sex and love; but though
such diversity has probably always existed, it has only in comparatively
recent times become a subject of study.
More than thirty years ago, however, an Austrian writer, K. H. Ulrichs,
drew attention in a series of pamphlets (_Memnon_, _Ara Spei_, _Inclusa_,
etc.) to the existence of a class of people who strongly illustrate
the above remarks, and with whom specially this paper is concerned. He
pointed out that there were people born in such a position--as it were on
the dividing line between the sexes--that while belonging distinctly to
one sex as far as their bodies are concerned they may be said to belong
_mentally_ and _emotionally_ to the other; that there were men, for
instance, who might be described as of feminine soul enclosed in a male
body (_anima muliebris in corpore virili inclusa_), or in other cases,
women whose definition would be just the reverse. And he maintained that
this doubleness of nature was to a great extent proved by the special
direction of their love-sentiment. For in such cases, as indeed might
be expected, the (apparently) masculine person instead of forming a
love-union with a female tended to contract romantic friendships with one
of his own sex; while the apparently feminine would, instead of marrying
in the usual way, devote herself to the love of another feminine.
People of this kind (_i.e._, having this special variation of the
love-sentiment) he called Urnings;[3] and though we are not obliged
to accept his theory about the crosswise connexion between ‘soul’ and
‘body,’ since at best these words are somewhat vague and indefinite;
yet his work was important because it was one of the first attempts,
in modern times, to recognise the existence of what might be called an
Intermediate sex, and to give at any rate _some_ explanation of it.[4]
Since that time the subject has been widely studied and written about
by scientific men and others, especially on the Continent (though in
England it is still comparatively unknown), and by means of an extended
observation of present-day cases, as well as the indirect testimony
of the history and literature of past times, quite a body of general
conclusions has been arrived at--of which I propose in the following
pages to give some slight account.
Contrary to the general impression, one of the first points that emerges
from this study is that ‘Urnings,’ or Uranians, are by no means so
very rare; but that they form, beneath the surface of society, a large
class. It remains difficult, however, to get an exact statement of their
numbers; and this for more than one reason: partly because, owing to
the want of any general understanding of their case, these folk tend to
conceal their true feelings from all but their own kind, and indeed often
deliberately act in such a manner as to lead the world astray--(whence it
arises that a normal man living in a certain society will often refuse to
believe that there is a single Urning in the circle of his acquaintance,
while one of the latter, or one that understands the nature, living in
the same society, can count perhaps a score or more)--and partly because
it is indubitable that the numbers do vary very greatly, not only in
different countries but even in different classes in the same country.
The consequence of all this being that we have estimates differing very
widely from each other. Dr. Grabowsky, a well-known writer in Germany,
quotes figures (which we think must be exaggerated) as high as one man
in every 22, while Dr. Albert Moll (_Die Conträre Sexualempfindung_,
chap. 3) gives estimates varying from 1 in every 50 to as low as 1 in
every 500.[5] These figures apply to such as are exclusively of the said
nature, _i.e._, to those whose deepest feelings of love and friendship
go out only to persons of their own sex. Of course, if in addition are
included those double-natured people (of whom there is a great number)
who experience the normal attachment, with the homogenic tendency in less
or greater degree superadded, the estimates must be greatly higher.
In the second place it emerges (also contrary to the general impression)
that men and women of the exclusively Uranian type are by no means
necessarily morbid in any way--unless, indeed, their peculiar temperament
be pronounced in itself morbid. Formerly it was assumed as a matter of
course, that the type was merely a result of disease and degeneration;
but now with the examination of the actual facts it appears that, on the
contrary, many are fine, healthy specimens of their sex, muscular and
well-developed in body, of powerful brain, high standard of conduct, and
with nothing abnormal or morbid of any kind observable in their physical
structure or constitution. This is of course not true of all, and there
still remain a certain number of cases of weakly type to support the
neuropathic view. Yet it is very noticeable that this view is much less
insisted on by the later writers than by the earlier. It is also worth
noticing that it is now acknowledged that even in the most healthy cases
the special affectional temperament of the ‘Intermediate’ is, as a rule,
ineradicable; so much so that when (as in not a few instances) such men
and women, from social or other considerations, have forced themselves to
marry and even have children, they have still not been able to overcome
their own bias, or the leaning after all of their life-attachment to some
friend of their own sex.
This subject, though obviously one of considerable interest and
importance, has been hitherto, as I have pointed out, but little
discussed in this country, partly owing to a certain amount of doubt
and distrust which has, not unnaturally perhaps, surrounded it. And
certainly if the men and women born with the tendency in question were
only exceedingly rare, though it would not be fair on that account to
ignore them, yet it would hardly be necessary to dwell at great length on
their case. But as the class is really, on any computation, numerous, it
becomes a duty for society not only to understand them but to help them
to understand themselves.
For there is no doubt that in many cases people of this kind suffer a
great deal from their own temperament--and yet, after all, it is possible
that they may have an important part to play in the evolution of the
race. Anyone who realises what Love is, the dedication of the heart, so
profound, so absorbing, so mysterious, so imperative, and always just
in the noblest natures so strong, cannot fail to see how difficult, how
tragic even, must often be the fate of those whose deepest feelings are
destined from the earliest days to be a riddle and a stumbling-block,
unexplained to themselves, passed over in silence by others.[6] To call
people of such temperament ‘morbid,’ and so forth, is of no use. Such a
term is, in fact, absurdly inapplicable to many, who are among the most
active, the most amiable and accepted members of society; besides, it
forms no solution of the problem in question, and only amounts to marking
down for disparagement a fellow-creature who has already considerable
difficulties to contend with. Says Dr. Moll, “Anyone who has seen many
Urnings will probably admit that they form a by no means enervated
human group; on the contrary, one finds powerful, healthy-looking folk
among them;” but in the very next sentence he says that they “suffer
severely” from the way they are regarded; and in the manifesto of a
considerable community of such people in Germany occur these words, “The
rays of sunshine in the night of our existence are so rare, that we are
responsive and deeply grateful for the least movement, for every single
voice that speaks in our favour in the forum of mankind.”[7]
In dealing with this class of folk, then, while I do not deny that they
present a difficult problem, I think that just for that very reason
their case needs discussion. It would be a great mistake to suppose
that their attachments are necessarily sexual, or connected with sexual
acts. On the contrary (as abundant evidence shows), they are often purely
emotional in their character; and to confuse Uranians (as is so often
done) with libertines having no law but curiosity in self-indulgence is
to do them a great wrong. At the same time, it is evident that their
special temperament may sometimes cause them difficulty in regard to
their sexual relations. Into this subject we need not just now enter. But
we may point out how hard it is, especially for the young among them,
that a veil of complete silence should be drawn over the subject, leading
to the most painful misunderstandings, and perversions and confusions of
mind; and that there should be no hint of guidance; nor any recognition
of the solitary and really serious inner struggles they may have to face!
If the problem is a difficult one--as it undoubtedly is--the fate of
those people is already hard who have to meet it in their own persons,
without their suffering in addition from the refusal of society to give
them any help. It is partly for these reasons, and to throw a little
light where it may be needed, that I have thought it might be advisable
in this paper simply to give a few general characteristics of the
Intermediate types.
As indicated then already, in bodily structure there is, as a rule,
nothing to distinguish the subjects of our discussion from ordinary
men and women; but if we take the general mental characteristics it
appears from almost universal testimony that the male tends to be of a
rather gentle, emotional disposition--with defects, if such exist, in
the direction of subtlety, evasiveness, timidity, vanity, etc.; while
the female is just the opposite, fiery, active, bold and truthful, with
defects running to brusqueness and coarseness. Moreover, the mind of the
former is generally intuitive and instinctive in its perceptions, with
more or less of artistic feeling; while the mind of the latter is more
logical, scientific, and precise than usual with the normal woman. So
marked indeed are these general characteristics that sometimes by means
of them (though not an infallible guide) the nature of the boy or girl
can be detected in childhood, before full development has taken place;
and needless to say it may often be very important to be able to do this.
It was no doubt in consequence of the observation of these signs that
K. H. Ulrichs proposed his theory; and though the theory, as we have
said, does not by any means meet _all_ the facts, still it is perhaps not
without merit, and may be worth bearing in mind.
In the case, for instance, of a woman of this temperament (defined
we suppose as “a male soul in a female body”) the theory helps us to
understand how it might be possible for her to fall _bonâ fide_ in love
with another woman. Krafft-Ebing gives[8] the case of a lady (A.), 28
years of age, who fell deeply in love with a younger one (B.). “I loved
her divinely,” she said. They lived together, and the union lasted
four years, but was then broken by the marriage of B. A. suffered in
consequence from frightful depression; but in the end--though without
real love--got married herself. Her depression however only increased and
deepened into illness. The doctors, when consulted, said that all would
be well if she could only have a child. The husband, who loved his wife
sincerely, could not understand her enigmatic behaviour. She was friendly
to him, suffered his caresses, but for days afterwards remained “dull,
exhausted, plagued with irritation of the spine, and nervous.” Presently
a journey of the married pair led to another meeting with the female
friend--who had now been wedded (but also unhappily) for three years.
“Both ladies trembled with joy and excitement as they fell into each
other’s arms, and were thenceforth inseparable. The man found that this
friendship relation was a singular one, and hastened the departure. When
the opportunity occurred, he convinced himself from the correspondence
between his wife and her ‘friend’ that their letters were exactly like
those of two lovers.”
It appears that the loves of such women are often very intense, and
(as also in the case of male Urnings) life-long.[9] Both classes feel
themselves blessed when they love happily. Nevertheless, to many of
them it is a painful fact that--in consequence of their peculiar
temperament--they are, though fond of children, not in the position to
found a family.
We have so far limited ourselves to some very general characteristics
of the Intermediate race. It may help to clear and fix our ideas if we
now describe more in detail, first, what may be called the extreme and
exaggerated types of the race, and then the more normal and perfect
types. By doing so we shall get a more definite and concrete view of our
subject.
In the first place, then, the extreme specimens--as in most cases
of extremes--are not particularly attractive, sometimes quite the
reverse. In the male of this kind we have a distinctly effeminate type,
sentimental, lackadaisical, mincing in gait and manners, something of a
chatterbox, skilful at the needle and in woman’s work, sometimes taking
pleasure in dressing in woman’s clothes; his figure not unfrequently
betraying a tendency towards the feminine, large at the hips, supple,
not muscular, the face wanting in hair, the voice inclining to be
high-pitched, etc.; while his dwelling-room is orderly in the extreme,
even natty, and choice of decoration and perfume. His affection, too, is
often feminine in character, clinging, dependent and jealous, as of one
desiring to be loved almost more than to love.[10]
On the other hand, as the extreme type of the homogenic female, we have a
rather markedly aggressive person, of strong passions, masculine manners
and movements, practical in the conduct of life, sensuous rather than
sentimental in love, often untidy, and _outré_ in attire;[11] her figure
muscular, her voice rather low in pitch; her dwelling-room decorated
with sporting-scenes, pistols, etc., and not without a suspicion of the
fragrant weed in the atmosphere; while her love (generally to rather soft
and feminine specimens of her own sex) is often a sort of furor, similar
to the ordinary masculine love, and at times almost uncontrollable.
These are types which, on account of their salience, everyone will
recognise more or less. Naturally, when they occur they excite a good
deal of attention, and it is not an uncommon impression that most persons
of the homogenic nature belong to either one or other of these classes.
But in reality, of course, these extreme developments are rare, and for
the most part the temperament in question is embodied in men and women
of quite normal and unsensational exterior. Speaking of this subject
and the connection between effeminateness and the homogenic nature in
men, Dr. Moll says: “It is, however, as well to point out at the outset
that effeminacy does not by any means show itself in all Urnings. Though
one may find this or that indication in a great number of cases, yet
it cannot be denied that a very large percentage, perhaps by far the
majority of them, do _not_ exhibit pronounced Effeminacy.” And it may be
supposed that we may draw the same conclusion with regard to women of
this class--namely, that the majority of them do not exhibit pronounced
masculine habits. In fact, while these extreme cases are of the greatest
value from a scientific point of view as marking tendencies and limits of
development in certain directions, it would be a serious mistake to look
upon them as representative cases of the whole phases of human evolution
concerned.
If now we come to what may be called the more normal type of the
Uranian man, we find a man who, while possessing thoroughly masculine
powers of mind and body, combines with them the tenderer and more
emotional soul-nature of the woman--and sometimes to a remarkable
degree. Such men, as said, are often muscular and well-built, and not
distinguishable in exterior structure and the carriage of body from
others of their own sex; but emotionally they are extremely complex,
tender, sensitive, pitiful and loving, “full of storm and stress, of
ferment and fluctuation” of the heart; the logical faculty may or may
not, in their case, be well-developed, but intuition is always strong;
like women they read characters at a glance, and know, without knowing
how, what is passing in the minds of others; for nursing and waiting on
the needs of others they have often a peculiar gift; at the bottom lies
the artist-nature, with the artist’s sensibility and perception. Such an
one is often a dreamer, of brooding, reserved habits, often a musician,
or a man of culture, courted in society, which nevertheless does not
understand him--though sometimes a child of the people, without any
culture, but almost always with a peculiar inborn refinement. De Joux,
who speaks on the whole favourably of Uranian men and women, says of the
former: “They are enthusiastic for poetry and music, are often eminently
skilful in the fine arts, and are overcome with emotion and sympathy at
the least sad occurrence. Their sensitiveness, their endless tenderness
for children, their love of flowers, their great pity for beggars and
crippled folk are truly womanly.” And in another passage he indicates the
artist-nature, when he says: “The nerve-system of many an Urning is the
finest and the most complicated musical instrument in the service of the
interior personality that can be imagined.”
It would seem probable that the attachment of such an one is of a tender
and profound character; indeed, it is possible that in this class of men
we have the love sentiment in one of its most perfect forms--a form in
which from the necessities of the situation the sensuous element, though
present, is exquisitely subordinated to the spiritual. Says one writer
on this subject, a Swiss, “Happy indeed is that man who has won a real
Urning for his friend--he walks on roses, without ever having to fear the
thorns”; and he adds, “Can there ever be a more perfect sick-nurse than
an Urning?” And though these are _ex parte_ utterances, we may believe
that there is an appreciable grain of truth in them. Another writer,
quoted by De Joux, speaks to somewhat the same effect, and may perhaps be
received in a similar spirit. “We form,” he says, “a peculiar aristocracy
of modest spirits, of good and refined habit, and in many masculine
circles are the representatives of the higher mental and artistic
element. In us dreamers and enthusiasts lies the continual counterpoise
to the sheer masculine portion of society--inclining, as it always does,
to mere restless greed of gain and material sensual pleasures.”
That men of this kind despise women, though a not uncommon belief, is
one which hardly appears to be justified. Indeed, though naturally not
inclined to “fall in love” in this direction, such men are by their
nature drawn rather near to women, and it would seem that they often feel
a singular appreciation and understanding of the emotional needs and
destinies of the other sex, leading in many cases to a genuine though
what is called ‘Platonic’ friendship. There is little doubt that they
are often instinctively sought after by women, who, without suspecting
the real cause, are conscious of a sympathetic chord in the homogenic
which they miss in the normal man. To quote De Joux once more: “It would
be a mistake to suppose that all Urnings must be woman-haters. Quite the
contrary. They are not seldom the faithfulest friends, the truest allies,
and most convinced defenders of women.”
To come now to the more normal and perfect specimens of the homogenic
_woman_, we find a type in which the body is thoroughly feminine and
gracious, with the rondure and fulness of the female form, and the
continence and aptness of its movements, but in which the inner nature is
to a great extent masculine; a temperament active, brave, originative,
somewhat decisive, not too emotional; fond of out-door life, of games and
sports, of science, politics, or even business; good at organisation, and
well-pleased with positions of responsibility, sometimes indeed making an
excellent and generous leader. Such a woman, it is easily seen, from her
special combination of qualities, is often fitted for remarkable work, in
professional life, or as manageress of institutions, or even as ruler of
a country. Her love goes out to younger and more feminine natures than
her own; it is a powerful passion, almost of heroic type, and capable
of inspiring to great deeds; and when held duly in leash may sometimes
become an invaluable force in the teaching and training of girlhood, or
in the creation of a school of thought or action among women. Many a
Santa Clara, or abbess-founder of religious houses, has probably been a
woman of this type; and in all times such women--not being bound to men
by the ordinary ties--have been able to work the more freely for the
interests of their sex, a cause to which their own temperament impels
them to devote themselves _con amore_.
I have now sketched--very briefly and inadequately it is true--both the
extreme types and the more healthy types of the ‘Intermediate’ man and
woman: types which can be verified from history and literature, though
more certainly and satisfactorily perhaps from actual life around us.
And unfamiliar though the subject is, it begins to appear that it is
one which modern thought and science will have to face. Of the latter
and more normal types it may be said that they exist, and have always
existed, in considerable abundance, and from that circumstance alone
there is a strong probability that they have their place and purpose. As
pointed out there is no particular indication of morbidity about them,
unless the special nature of their love-sentiment be itself accounted
morbid; and in the alienation of the sexes from each other, of which
complaint is so often made to-day, it must be admitted that they do much
to fill the gap.
The instinctive artistic nature of the male of this class, his sensitive
spirit, his wavelike emotional temperament, combined with hardihood
of intellect and body; and the frank, free nature of the female, her
masculine independence and strength wedded to thoroughly feminine grace
of form and manner; may be said to give them both, through their double
nature, command of life in all its phases, and a certain freemasonry of
the secrets of the two sexes which may well favour their function as
reconcilers and interpreters. Certainly it is remarkable that some of the
world’s greatest leaders and artists have been dowered either wholly or
in part with the Uranian temperament--as in the cases of Michel Angelo,
Shakespeare, Marlowe, Alexander the Great, Julius Cæsar, or, among women,
Christine of Sweden, Sappho the poetess, and others.
III
The Homogenic Attachment
In its various forms, so far as we know them, Love seems always to have a
deep significance and a most practical importance to us little mortals.
In one form, as the mere semi-conscious Sex-love, which runs through
creation and is common to the lowest animals and plants, it appears as
a kind of organic basis for the unity of all creatures; in another, as
the love of the mother for her offspring--which may also be termed a
passion--it seems to pledge itself to the care and guardianship of the
future race; in another, as the marriage of man and woman, it becomes
the very foundation of human society. And so we can hardly believe that
in its homogenic form, with which we are here concerned, it has not also
a deep significance, and social uses and functions which will become
clearer to us, the more we study it.
To some perhaps it may appear a little strained to place this
last-mentioned form of attachment on a level of importance with the
others, and such persons may be inclined to deny to the homogenic[12]
or homosexual love that intense, that penetrating, and at times
overmastering character which would entitle it to rank as a great human
passion. But in truth this view, when entertained, arises from a want of
acquaintance with the actual facts; and it may not be amiss here, in the
briefest possible way, to indicate what the world’s History, Literature,
and Art has to say to us on this aspect of the subject, before going
on to further considerations. Certainly, if the confronting of danger
and the endurance of pain and distress for the sake of the loved one,
if sacrifice, unswerving devotion and life-long union, constitute
proofs of the reality and intensity (and let us say healthiness) of an
affection, then these proofs have been given in numberless cases of such
attachment, not only as existing between men, but as between women, since
the world began. The records of chivalric love, the feats of enamoured
knights for their ladies’ sakes, the stories of Hero and Leander,
etc., are easily paralleled, if not surpassed, by the stories of the
Greek comrades-in-arms and tyrannicides--of Cratinus and Aristodemus,
who offered themselves together as a voluntary sacrifice for the
purification of Athens; of Chariton and Melanippus,[13] who attempted
to assassinate Phalaris, the tyrant of Agrigentum; or of Cleomachus
who in like manner, in a battle between the Chalkidians and Eretrians,
being entreated to charge the latter, “asked the youth he loved, who was
standing by, whether he would be a spectator of the fight; and when he
said he would, and affectionately kissed Cleomachus and put his helmet
on his head, Cleomachus with a proud joy placed himself in the front of
the bravest of the Thessalians and charged the enemy’s cavalry with such
impetuosity that he threw them into disorder and routed them; and the
Eretrian cavalry fleeing in consequence, the Chalkidians won a splendid
victory.”[14]
The annals of all nations contain similar records--though probably among
none has the ideal of this love been quite so enthusiastic and heroic
as among the post-Homeric Greeks. It is well known that among the
Polynesian Islanders--for the most part a very gentle and affectionate
people, probably inheriting the traditions of a higher culture than
they now possess--the most romantic male friendships are (or were) in
vogue. Says Herman Melville in “Omoo” (chap. 39), “The really curious
way in which all Polynesians are in the habit of making bosom friends
is deserving of remark.… In the annals of the island (Tahiti) are
examples of extravagant friendships, unsurpassed by the story of Damon
and Pythias--in truth much more wonderful; for notwithstanding the
devotion--even of life in some cases--to which they led, they were
frequently entertained at first sight for some stranger from another
island.” So thoroughly recognised indeed were these unions that Melville
explains (in “Typee,” chap. 18) that if two men of hostile tribes or
islands became thus pledged to each other, then each could pass through
the enemy’s territory without fear of molestation or injury; and the
passionate nature of these attachments is indicated by the following
passage from “Omoo” (another book of Melville’s):--“Though little
inclined to jealousy in ordinary love-matters, the Tahitian will hear of
no rivals in his _friendship_.”
Even among savage races lower down than these in the scale of evolution,
and who are generally accused of being governed in their love-relations
only by the most animal desires, we find a genuine sentiment of
comradeship beginning to assert itself--as among the Balonda[15] and
other African tribes, where regular ceremonies of the betrothal of
comrades take place, by the transfusion of a few drops of blood into each
other’s drinking-bowls, by the exchange of names,[16] and the mutual
gift of their most precious possessions; but unfortunately, owing to the
obtuseness of current European opinion on this subject, these and other
such customs have been but little investigated and have by no means
received the attention that they ought.
When we turn to the poetic and literary utterances of the more civilised
nations on this subject we cannot but be struck by the range and
intensity of the emotions expressed--from the beautiful threnody of David
over his friend whose love was passing the love of women, through the
vast panorama of the Homeric Iliad, of which the heroic friendship of
Achilles and his dear Patroclus forms really the basic theme, down to
the works of the great Greek age--the splendid odes of Pindar burning
with clear fire of passion, the lofty elegies of Theognis, full of wise
precepts to his beloved Kurnus, the sweet pastorals of Theocritus, the
passionate lyrics of Sappho, or the more sensual raptures of Anacreon.
Some of the dramas of Æschylus and Sophocles--as the “Myrmidones” of the
former and the “Lovers of Achilles” of the latter--appear to have had
this subject for their motive[17]; and many of the prose-poem dialogues
of Plato were certainly inspired by it.
Then coming to the literature of the Roman age, whose materialistic
spirit could only with difficulty seize the finer inspiration of the
homogenic love, and which in such writers as Catullus and Martial could
only for the most part give expression to its grosser side, we still find
in Vergil, a noble and notable instance. His second Eclogue bears the
marks of a genuine passion; and, according to some,[18] he there under
the name of Alexis immortalises his own love for the youthful Alexander.
Nor is it possible to pass over in this connection the great mass of
Persian literature, and the poets Sadi, Hafiz, Jami, and many others,
whose names and works are for all time, and whose marvellous love-songs
(“Bitter and sweet is the parting kiss on the lips of a friend”) are to a
large extent, if not mostly, addressed to those of their own sex.[19]
Of the mediæval period in Europe we have of course but few literary
monuments. Towards its close we come upon the interesting story of Amis
and Amile (thirteenth century), unearthed by Mr. W. Pater from the
Bibliotheca Elzeviriana.[20] Though there is historic evidence of the
prevalence of the passion we may say of this period that its _ideal_ was
undoubtedly rather the chivalric love than the love of comrades. But
with the Renaissance in Italy and the Elizabethan period in England the
latter once more comes to evidence in a burst of poetic utterance,[21]
which culminates perhaps in the magnificent sonnets of Michel Angelo
and of Shakespeare; of Michel Angelo whose pure beauty of expression
lifts the enthusiasm into the highest region as the direct perception
of the divine in mortal form;[22] and of Shakespeare--whose passionate
words and amorous spirituality of friendship have for long enough been
a perplexity to hide-bound commentators. Thence through minor writers
(not overlooking Winckelmann[23] in Germany) we pass to quite modern
times--in which, notwithstanding the fact that the passion has been
much misunderstood and misinterpreted, two names stand conspicuously
forth--those of Tennyson, whose “In Memoriam” is perhaps his finest work,
and of Walt Whitman, the enthusiasm of whose poems on Comradeship is only
paralleled by the devotedness of his labors for his wounded brothers in
the American Civil War.
It will be noticed that here we have some of the very greatest names in
all literature concerned; and that their utterances on this subject equal
if they do not surpass, in beauty, intensity and humanity of sentiment,
whatever has been written in praise of the other more ordinarily
recognised love.
And when again we turn to the records of Art, and compare the way
in which man’s sense of Love and Beauty has expressed itself in the
portrayal of the male form and the female form respectively we find
exactly the same thing. The whole vista of Greek statuary shows the
male passion of beauty in high degree. Yet though the statues of men and
youths (by men sculptors) preponderate probably considerably, both in
actual number and in devotedness of execution, over the statues of female
figures, it is, as J. A. Symonds says in his “Life of Michel Angelo,”
remarkable that in all the range of the former there are hardly two or
three that show a base or licentious expression, such as is not so very
uncommon in the female statues. Knowing as we do the strength of the
male physical passion in the life of the Greeks, this one fact speaks
strongly for the sense of proportion which must have characterised this
passion--at any rate in the most productive age of their Art.
In the case of Michel Angelo we have an artist who with brush and chisel
portrayed literally thousands of human forms; but with this peculiarity,
that while scores and scores of his male figures are obviously suffused
and inspired by a romantic sentiment, there is hardly one of his female
figures that is so,--the latter being mostly representative of woman in
her part as mother, or sufferer, or prophetess or poetess, or in old age,
or in any aspect of strength or tenderness, except that which associates
itself especially with romantic love. Yet the cleanliness and dignity of
Michel Angelo’s male figures are incontestable, and bear striking witness
to that nobility of the sentiment in him, which we have already seen
illustrated in his sonnets.[24]
This brief sketch may suffice to give the reader some idea of the place
and position in the world of the particular sentiment which we are
discussing; nor can it fail to impress him--if any reference is made to
the authorities quoted--with a sense of the dignity and solidity of the
sentiment, at any rate as handled by some of the world’s greatest men.
At the same time it would be affectation to ignore the fact that side
by side with this view of the subject there has been another current of
opinion leading people--especially in quite modern times in Europe--to
look upon attachments of the kind in question with much suspicion and
disfavour.[25] And it may be necessary here to say a few words on this
latter view.