I’m just finishing an investigative book on contraception, and I want to weep when women tell me their stories of being “popped on the pill” for acne as an adolescent, and – like a frog slowly being boiled alive – not realising until years have passed that a particular pill has turned them into a different person: fatigued, depressed and stressed. Jennifer Takhar at the ISG International Business School in Paris recently published a paper on the reasons behind falling pill prescription rates in western Europe, and says: “Our research shows that peers on social media are influencing young women’s choices, and reshaping perceptions of risk and side-effects, and at the same time social media is delegitimising the authority of health professionals. Kate Muir’s book Everything You Need to Know About the Pill is published next year