Book dossier

Testo Junkie

by Paul B. Preciado

"What constitutes a "real" man or woman in the twenty-first century? Since birth control pills, erectile dysfunction remedies, and factory-made testosterone and estrogen were developed, biology is definitely no longer destiny.In this penetrating analysis of gender, Beatriz Preciado shows the ways in which the synthesis of hormones since the 1950s has fundamentally changed how gender and sexual identity are formulated, and how the pharmaceutical and pornography industries are in the business of creating desire. This riveting continuation of Michel Foucault's The History of Sexuality also includes Preciado's diaristic account of her own use of testosterone every day for one year, and its mesmerizing impact on her body as well as her imagination.Beatriz Preciado has become one of the leading thinkers in the study of gender and sexuality. She is currently a professor of political history of the body, gender theory, and history of performance at Universite; Paris VIII. She received her PhD in the theory of architecture at Princeton University, and a master of philosophy and contemporary theory of gender at the New School for Social Research in New York"--