ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of some key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book discusses issues about the nature of the self, the agency of the self, and the values of autonomy and integrity. It examines two well-known views of the relation between the self and the body, the Cartesian distinction between the self and the body and the physicalist identification of the self with the body. Many feminists invoke the concept of multiplicity to capture the experience of a self whose gender is inextricable from her race, class, ethnicity, and sexual orientation. Although the term 'multiplicity' conveys the richness and vitality of women's selves, it also brings to mind the uncertainty and anxiety about how one is perceived, as well as the potential for internal conflict about where one's allegiances belong, that plague many women.
