In this feminist exploration of the erotics of the   marketplace,   Hegel's notion of property and Lacan's idea of the phallus serve   parallel   functions in creating the subjectivity necessary for self-actualization.   Subjectivity requires intersubjective relationships mediated through a   regime of   possessing, enjoying, and exchanging an object of desire. For Hegel,   this regime   is property; for Lacan, it is sexuality, symbolized by the Phallus,   which we   conflate with the male organ and the female body. Property law, in   Jeanne   Schroeder's account, is implicitly figured by similar anatomical   metaphors for   that which men wish to possess and that which women try to be and enjoy.   This is   reflected in imagery taken from ancient Romethe axe and bundle of   sticks known   as the Fasces, and the virgin priestess called the Vestal.  Schroeder traces the persistence of phallic metaphors in modern   jurisprudence.   Rejecting the dominant schools of legal feminism, she reconceptualizes   propertythe legal relationship as well as its not necessarily material   objectas a necessary moment in the human struggle for love and   recognition. The   Feminine, for Schroeder, is the radical negativity at the heart of both   Lacan's   split subject and Hegel's concept of freedom. Feminine emancipation and   private   property are, therefore, equally necessary conditions for the   actualization of   the free individual and the just society. Feminist scholars, social   theorists,   political scientists, philosophers, and lawyers will find in Schroeder's   analysis scintillating new perspectives on property theory and the   feminine   within the market and the law.

The Vestal and the Fasces: Hegel, Lacan, Property, and the Feminine PDF

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