Sociology of contraception in France

Abstract

In France, research on contraception is a dynamic field that has been expanding since the publication of early socio-demographic work in the 1980s. This article offers a synthesis of these publications, by classifying them in four main sociological approaches: a sociology of contraceptive demand (1); a sociology of contraceptive offer, with an attention drawn to the prescription, production, and promotion of contraceptives (2); an institutional approach, focusing on how contraceptive systems are shaped at a national level (3); finally, research on social inequalities in the access to contraceptives (4). The article highlights that the centrality of the pill in the French contraceptive system has been stable for the past 40 years, though oral contraceptives have been the object of growing criticism, particularly in the aftermath of the 2012-13 French pill scare. The article also evidences how access to contraceptives is shaped by power relations (gender, class, age and "ethnicity").