Do women have souls? Feminine identity and the Western project of Self

Abstract

In this paper I am concerned with the political, social and cultural implications of the metadigms of the Self, particularly as they apply to the status of women. This is a story that it is easier to map than to tell. The map (fig1) is a superficial glance at the ways in which women's lives have been affected by the concepts of the Self that largely excluded women. This paper explores how those different overarching perspectives have had very real impacts on the lives lived by women. The paper largely focuses upon the Object Self as being key to understanding the links between the Self and social process.