This week I read the Washington Post article “Women are getting off birth control amid misinformation explosion.” I have thoughts.
Naturally, the piece piqued my interest as I have been grappling with my preferred birth control methods for some time. Currently, I am not taking any hormonal birth control as I want to observe and learn more about my body and my period cycle.
In truth though, that wasn’t my initial motivation to stop birth control. I wanted to stop birth control to see if it would help my issues with a low libido. I read “Your Brain On Birth Control” by Dr Sarah Hill in mid-2022 and became curious to see how my body and mindset may change if I stopped taking birth control.
I was curious to read a section in the WP article that talked about a social media influencer (one I had previously not heard of) who cited concern “about weight gain, low libido, and intermittent bleeding, which she had assumed were side effects,” as a reason that she stopped taking birth control. I’m sure many women would agree with her that unwanted weight gain and low libido are important concerns when considering birth control options.
The word that stopped me there was the word “assumed,” which implies she did not attempt to verify if the symptoms were solely caused by birth control. The article then goes on to say “The 29-year-old is not a licensed medical specialist.”
This way of characterizing her situation and perspective continues to bother me. They may as well have written, “Woman with no medical expertise whatsoever manages to scam audience about birth control side effects.”
I understand that the situation is nuanced. On the one hand, yes, you should always seek advice from a licensed medical professional concerning medication and what’s right for your health. I can see there would be concerns with any individual giving medical advice to the masses with no scientific proof.
On the other hand, is it wrong to observe changes that are happening to your body and then act on those observations as you see fit? It may not constitute concrete scientific evidence, but the personal experiences I’ve had and the women around me have had are real and valid and do affect our decision-making.
Is it scientifically proven that my implant affected my libido? Maybe not, but I observed a change and decided to explore a pathway to discover if I felt different. I wasn’t misled or lied to or fearmongered into doing this. My OGBYN was supportive when we discussed it.
I think what’s annoying me is the implied notion that a woman sharing her personal experience with birth control is somehow spreading misinformation to others. Even if that woman takes care to clarify that it’s simply her own experience.
In my experience, asking my female friends to share their thoughts with me on different birth control methods was infinitely more helpful than my doctor’s trial-and-error method. Of course, I got the spiel that went something like “Some women experience X, while some women experience Y.” “Try out this method for a couple of months, see how you do, and then we can check back in.” However, it was helpful to hear the thoughts and experiences of women of all ages in my life, plus those I found online and via social media.
To my mind, using social media as a research tool about birth control is an extension of turning to your friend and asking if they mind sharing their experience with you. We are intelligent enough to take all information with a pinch of salt and know that one person’s experience isn’t necessarily reflective of the most common side effects of any given birth control. It’s about learning as much as we can in aggregate.
There certainly are nefarious individuals or groups of individuals using social media as a tool to spread misinformation about birth control (and women’s health in general) in service of their agendas, be they political or otherwise. I just don’t want us to assume that a woman sharing her personal experience automatically falls into the category of spreading misinformation.
