Celia Roberts is a Lecturer in the Department of Sociology at Lancaster University. She is the author of Born and Made: An Ethnography of Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (with Sarah Franklin, 2006).

'This is an excellent book that rigorously and thoughtfully argues that sex hormones still matter today. Although 'gene talk' has currently become an important discourse to conceptualise biological life, Celia Roberts convincingly shows how hormones still function as important scientific, cultural and political resources for answering persistent questions about sex, gender and the body. Bridging two distinct fields of research - feminist theories of the body and science and technology studies - Messengers of Sex provides new, critical tools in order to think through how technoscientific discourses are interwoven into women's and men's lives.' Nelly Oudshoorn, Professor of Technology Dynamics and Health Care, University of Twente, The Netherlands

• Introduction: Feminism, bodies and biological sex; Part I. Hormone Histories: 1. Folding hormonal histories of sex; Part II. Hormonal Bodies: 2. Articulating endocrinology's body; 3. Activating sexed behaviours; Part III. Hormone Cultures: 4. Elixirs of sex: hormone-replacement therapies and contemporary life; 5. The messaging effects of HRT; 6. Hormones in the world; Conclusion: Hormones as provocation.