ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the key concepts discussed in the preceding chapters of this book. The book explores symbolic representation, a concept that enables us to reflect on the meaning of gender and its on-going contestations. It analyses the relation between agent and principal in symbolic representation, taking gender as the principal and political discourse as the agent. The book argues that the agent in symbolic representation does something to the principal. It focuses on the implicit, unintentional meanings and norms that women and men evoke as symbols, the use of a discursive approach and of a discursive politics methodology is helpful in revealing less explicit normative aspects of political representation. The book examines policies on intimate citizenship concerning partnership and reproductive rights in Belgium and Italy, and found that relations between same-sex people are legitimised in the former political system but not in the latter.
