Histories of Women’s Education and Shifting Frames of ‘Femininity’

Abstract

This chapter formalises reflections coming from the interpretations and conclusions of the previous chapters in the book. The chapter places these reflections regarding femininity into a shifting frame schema of historical analysis. This schema has two frames of elaboration: the analytical and the metaphorical. In the analytical frame the chapter posits how specific conceptualisations are interactive when femininity is studied. In the metaphorical frame the chapter explores the more intimate concern of the sexed female body, her shifting femininity being viewed through more personal expectations, values and meaning as these relate to sometimes unconscious metaphorical identity formation and even post-human scrutiny.