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Interrogating the pill: Rising distrust and the reshaping of health risk perceptions in the social media age

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  • Schneider-Kamp, Anna
  • Takhar, Jennifer

Abstract

Since its introduction in 1960, the combined oral contraceptive pill has become the dominant reversible contraceptive technology for controlling female fertility in spite of early and ongoing ethical, critical medical, and societal disapproval. Over the last decade, prescription rates among young women in Western Europe have declined alongside the rise of social media use. This article investigates the mechanisms underlying this change in contraceptive choices and the role played by social media in this trend. Via exploratory online observation and an in-depth interview study with 19 informants in Germany and Denmark, we find social media consolidates the social construction of hazards associated with the contraceptive pill by reshaping young women's risk perception from questions around drug reliability and safety to those of individual physical, mental, and social well-being. We shed light on how social media contributes to the delegitimation of health professionals such as gynaecologists and general practitioners and adds to wider debates on the erosion of medical authority and the attendant rise of peer influencers. We condense our findings into a framework for health-related attitude formation and decision-making in the social media age, which elucidates how social media amplifies and reshapes societal discourses regarding health-related technologies, choices, and risks.

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  • Schneider-Kamp, Anna & Takhar, Jennifer, 2023. "Interrogating the pill: Rising distrust and the reshaping of health risk perceptions in the social media age," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 331(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:331:y:2023:i:c:s0277953623004380
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2023.116081
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Helen Elizabeth Denise Burchett & Sally Griffin & Málica de Melo & Joelma Joaquim Picardo & Dylan Kneale & Rebecca S. French, 2022. "Structural Interventions to Enable Adolescent Contraceptive Use in LMICs: A Mid-Range Theory to Support Intervention Development and Evaluation," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(21), pages 1-29, November.
    2. Rakesh Kochhar, 2017. "Middle Class Fortunes in Western Europe," LIS Working papers 702, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    3. Wang, Yuxi & McKee, Martin & Torbica, Aleksandra & Stuckler, David, 2019. "Systematic Literature Review on the Spread of Health-related Misinformation on Social Media," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 240(C).
    4. Le Guen, Mireille & Schantz, Clémence & Régnier-Loilier, Arnaud & de La Rochebrochard, Elise, 2021. "Reasons for rejecting hormonal contraception in Western countries: A systematic review," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 284(C).
    5. Fergie, Gillian & Hunt, Kate & Hilton, Shona, 2016. "Social media as a space for support: Young adults' perspectives on producing and consuming user-generated content about diabetes and mental health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 170(C), pages 46-54.
    6. Funmilola M OlaOlorun & Philip Anglewicz & Caroline Moreau, 2020. "From non-use to covert and overt use of contraception: Identifying community and individual factors informing Nigerian women’s degree of contraceptive empowerment," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(11), pages 1-14, November.
    7. Savadori, Lucia & Lauriola, Marco, 2022. "Risk perceptions and COVID-19 protective behaviors: A two-wave longitudinal study of epidemic and post-epidemic periods," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 301(C).
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