ABSTRACT
I agree that the equality/difference debate cannot be resolved as it is posed. The question of whether this can be resolved by employing different frameworks is partly what this book is about. Whilst both have been described as paradigmatically male, it is necessary to distinguish between the self and legal personhood. What it is to be a self is an ontological concept, whereas ‘personhood’ denotes a moral and legal concept. Historically, women have been denied legal personhood, the ability to sue and be sued in the courts. I want to explore different ways of thinking about the self (starting in Chapter 2) and legal personhood (starting in Chapter 3) that do not take men as the norm against whom women are measured. This involves thinking about a model of selfhood that takes the bodies and lives of women as the norm rather than as an aberration. I will also examine a model of legal personhood, provided by the work of Drucilla Cornell, that aims to move beyond the equality/difference problem.
