Theme 1 - Intermediate Types

This theme updates the ideas contained in Edward Carpenter's 1914 book Intermediate Types.

"Intermediate Types" is an umbrella term used by Carpenter in the very early years of LGBTQIA+ research. The term describes people who fit somewhere between the poles of male and female in some aspect of their being. Such people might be labelled LGBTQIA+ in a modern Western culture.

Carpenter argued that if you study the history of Intermediate Type people within a Western mindset, heavily influenced by Christian teachings, you can get a distorted picture due to embedded homophobic prejudice.

Unfortunately European colonialism from the 15th to 20th Century CE has spread this prejudice right across the world.

Carpenter made the effort to examine cultures across the world before Colonialism and Christianity got there. He found a different story; a story of many societies where Intermediate Type people were valued for the gifts they brought to their community. Such stories have been all but forgotten in the West, but they can be re-discovered and included in our understandings of LGBTQIA+ history.

Once I have told this Intermediate Types story I will start on other video projects exploring the intersection between sexuality, history, spirituality and religion. I want to explore these positive and affirming Intermediate Type stories, and then ask what lessons we can bring from this, to get a better understanding of our modern homosexual and gender variant lives.

Theme 2 - Queer Ministry

There are a huge number of reports across history, and across continents, of Intermediate Type people being valued for their involvement in religion and spirituality - as priests, shamens, teachers, counsellors, and in many other vocations - a phenomenon I have labelled Queer Ministry.

It is important to know this history.

It is affirming for those of us who are LGBTQIA+ to hear stories where we are valued for our religious lives. It also helps us to push back at outdated and inaccurate Christian teaching which is often critical of such people.

Theme 3 - Talking about Homosexuality

As you look across the world at descriptions of homosexuality there seems to be no pattern to what is described, either in the reports of people's behaviour, or in society's attitudes to such behaviour.

• In some cultures homosexual people are valued, in others they are despised.
• In some cultures only a small proportion seem to be active in same-sex behaviour, in other cultures nearly everybody is involved, especially when young.

How do we make sense of this?

In this theme I will be looking at how we study and analyse homosexuality, asking questions like:

• How does one define homosexuality? Is it to do with sex and the erotic, or love and companionship, or something else, or all three together?
• How are such behaviours recorded and available for later study by academics. It may be easy to study the attitudes and behaviours of the (often homophobic) social elite who live their lives in public and are widely documented, but:
  1. How do we study the semi-hidden or hidden subcultures which can make up a large part of homosexual experience.
  2. How do we interpret the records of these semi-hidden and often socially encoded lives?
  3. What cultural records have been lost, or never created in the first place?
  4. What are the analysis problems if our data collection is incomplete or distorted?
• Finally, what "causes" homosexuality? Is it nature or nurture or both? I will be arguing that homosexuality is a "heritable" condition, stable across millennia and across cultures, which has evolved due to the advantages it brings to the individuals and/or the wider group or society.

Theme 4 - Sexuality in Church and Bible

In switchingview Theme 2 - Queer Ministry I explored the huge number of reports across history, and across continents, of Intermediate Type people being valued for their involvement in religion and spirituality - as priests, shamens, teachers, counsellors, and in many other vocations.

Theme 4 - Sexuality in Church and Bible leads on from this study and uses a wider lens. I plan to explore the intersection between sexuality, history, spirituality and religion, and ask what lessons we can bring from this to get a better and healthier understanding of the link between sex, sexuality and religion.

Theme 5 - Reassessing Patriarchy

I have been studying Intermediate Type and Queer Ministry issues for over 20 years, but it was only when I researched Patriarchy that the jigsaw pieces fell into place and I could understand the different attitudes to homosexuality and gender variance across the world.

Recent research shows that patriarchy is not a natural, universal condition but a relatively recent development in human history. Original human cultures were often peaceful, non-hierarchical and egalitarian, with men and women sharing responsibilities and power. Such egalitarian cultures were often welcoming to the Intermediate Type and Queer Ministry lives in their midst. It was only when patriarchy spread across the world that such people were attacked and we have the world we know today.

I think that anybody seeking to understand gender relations, or LGBTQIA+ history and culture, would benefit from paying close attention to these new ideas about patriarchal history.

Theme 6 - Edward Carpenter

Edward Carpenter was an English mystic, social reformer and writer who lived from 1844 to 1929.

He wrote some of the earliest books on homosexual reform in the UK; an act requiring immense courage at a time when homosexuality was illegal. These books, and others on social reform, had great influence right across the world.

He was a homosexual man who lived for 30 years with his life-partner George Merrill.

I use many of Carpenter's ideas in my videos, especially those contained in his 1914 book Intermediate Types among Primitive Folk - a study in social evolution.

Carpenter is a fascinating man who is well worth knowing about quite apart from his books on homosexuality. I have created an Edward Carpenter Archive which hosts a lot of Carpenter texts, music, letters and other resources.

My video biography about Edward Carpenter's life and work is hosted in the switchingview YouTube channel. YouTube Video - (April 2023) Texts and Resources Document - A listing of the texts and sources used in the video biography, and recommendations for further reading.

Finally, can I ask you a favour?

I put a lot of work into these recordings, and it would be good if they can be seen by the largest number of people.

So if you have a friend or colleague who you think would benefit from knowing about them, please pass on the word.