One day, they said stop the pill. I have the impression of having been controlled by this contraception rather than having taken control myself. As if it was not me , explains Mélody, 27. Rebecca had enough, too, to take a tablet every morning. Philosophically, this gesture that has become mechanical bother me . This 26 -year -old young woman was influenced in her decision by a journalistic investigation into the effects of the pill and the testimonies of a woman who wanted to free herself from this shackles .

As IFOP notes for a contraception survey: why do women abandon the pill? Dating from 2018, the popularity of the pill has dropped significantly in recent years . The proportion of women of childbearing age who use it increased from 40.8 % in 2010 to 33.2 % in 2016, according to the health barometer published in 2016 by Public Health France (SPF).

"There is a desire in young women to regain control"

So, the pill, a shackles? The current generation no longer sees in it this release praised by women of previous generations. The relationship with the body has changed. "There is a desire among young women to regain control, which involves the acquisition of scientific knowledge," notes sociologist Cécile Thomé who worked on the relationship with the body and health in the contraceptive choices of young women in France according to the social environment. This goes so far as to question the doctor, especially for young women belonging to the upper class. On the applications of their smartphones, they will note their feelings, the texture of their losses etc. " She adds: " This brings power to women and allows them to respond to the medical institution on their sexual health. And it's positive. They learn by themselves to better know how their body works. »»

"It's a drug"

This generational disenchantment vis-à-vis the pill, which remains the first means of contraception in women, is not only a question of philosophy, of reappropriation of his body.

It is also a medical issue. Isabelle Yoldjian, Director of Medicines in Gynecology at the National Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health Products (ANSM), recalls: This relative desertion for the pill, is explained by awareness that it is a medication. And like any medication, it is accompanied by undesirable effects.

"I was crying in front of Amazon pubs"

Caroline, 26, explains: I have been taking the pill since I was 14, and very quickly I also had treatment for acne. I felt a kind of weight, as if I had heavy legs. And I was always hot, I was sweating at the slightest effort! At the end of the treatment, I also decided to stop the pill, overnight. And my symptoms have almost all disappeared .

Mélody, 27, noticed a big change, a before and after the pill. When I took the pill, I did not have the impression of having effects. Now that I stopped, I can say that I got it! During the pill, I was rather amorphous, quite sensitive during the periods of my cycle. For example, I was crying in front of Amazon ads! She laughs.

"Check the benefit / risk ratio"

The side effects of the pill can be multiple: small bleeding outside the rules, sometimes stopping rules, nausea or swelling of breasts, or even a risk of thrombosis. In December 2012, a young woman, Marion Larat, filed a complaint against Bayer after having made a stroke that she is the responsibility of the Méliane pill. It was compensated in civilian, for prejudices suffered, up to 4.5 million euros as well as an annual annuity of € 25,000, paid by the National Office for the Compensation for Medical Accidents. In criminal, an instruction, open eight years after the facts, is still in progress.

In 2013, the European Medicines Agency re -evaluated all contraceptive pills in order to verify the benefit / risk ratio in particular. And in fact, there is a higher risk of venous thrombosis [the formation of a blood clot in a vein] for the 3 ^rd and 4th ^generations and which multiplied by two compared to the pills of 1 ^re and 2nd ^generations , recalls Isabelle Yoldjian .

"All pills can cause mood disorders"

Cécile Thomé, sociologist, explains that speech on these side effects on health has freed himself a lot: " Even if young women today do not remember the 2012 scandal on the pill, they are much more attentive to the undesirable effects than fifty years ago. For my study, I maintained myself with women of 90 years who say: "The side effects was equal to me", because at the time, the marketing of the contraceptive pill was seen as a release. Today this is no longer the case.

Phases of depression, fatigue, drop in libido, mood swings ... Some young women also complain about the psychological consequences of taking the pill. These effects are often considered minimal and underestimated by the women themselves, as Rébecca which is the responsibility of its character of the depression phases, which took the pill for ten years.

However, Isabelle Yoldjian underlines: all pills can cause mood disorders . It admits that these undesirable effects are often considered benign or more difficult to bind with the taking of contraceptives by health professionals and women themselves and often overlooked ”. And to conclude: it is difficult to say if these effects are only due to the pill.

"I want my boyfriend to take contraception"

The pill remains the first means of contraception in France. But for those who refuse it, what alternative? We are the first thing we think when we start to have a sex life , underlines Rebecca. As if it was natural that the mental charge linked to contraception is the responsibility of women. Even if male contraception exists, a problem of confidence arises in couples, women having for a long time worn the contraceptive load but also because, ultimately , it is the woman who will fall pregnant if there is a problem.

Rébecca and Melody have passed through periods of contraceptive wandering . I don't want to continue like this, I want my boyfriend to take contraception. I would like him to wear heated briefs , explains Rébecca. Mélody now has a IUD: that in copper, without hormones, I was holding. She adds: I spent several months without contraception, even if I was not in a relationship in the meantime. But now she suffers more than before when she has her menstruation: my rules are much more abundant than before, when I took the pill. And the pains are stronger before and during the rules. I have to be more attentive and watch when changing. It remains, if not, the condom, or the withdrawal. While waiting for the male pill?