Written as Ralph Werther, also known as Jennie June, this provocative study of "the third sex" fuses autobiography, social protest, and sexological theory into a raw portrait of gender nonconformity in early twentieth-century New York. Framed as a humanitarian intervention, it argues that androgynes, female-impersonators, and other sexual intermediates are born, not made, and suffer chiefly from ignorance, blackmail, exposure, and social hatred. The author presents his own life among the hidden underworld as both testimony and evidence, moving from personal memory and street life to medical opinion, scandal, murder, and verse in an effort to educate the public and reduce imprisonment, violence, and suicide. At the same time, the book advances sweeping, often judgmental classifications of male virility, marriage, desire, and social role, contrasting "mildly virile" men with dominant aggressors, intellectual "anaphrodites," and effeminate, bisexual "hermaphroditoi." In vivid scenes of secret gatherings, fashion talk, and public humiliation, it reveals a world of secrecy, longing, and survival, insisting that those branded abnormal are human beings deserving compassion, justice, and understanding. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.