Science, more than any other investigative and descriptive activity, creates and conceals the contexts from which it arises.
(Duden 1991c:20)
We need the power of modern critical theories of how meanings and bodies get made, not in order to deny meanings and bodies, but in order to build meanings and bodies that have a chance for life.
(Haraway 1989a:580)
My argument throughout this book has been to show that sex hormones are not just found in nature. My concern was with finding an alternative explanation for the idea that the emphasis on the female body in hormone research simply reflects a natural order of things. Beyond the Natural Body illustrates how scientific body concepts such as the hormonal body assume the appearance of natural phenomena by virtue of the activities of scientists. In this archeology of the hormonal body I tried to unravel both the construction and the impact of this new understanding of the body. It is time to summarize and evaluate the major conclusions that can be drawn from my examination of the history of sex hormones.