A few people have sent me links to this article asking me to comment on it because I did a sponsored video with the app last year. The article is titled “‘I felt colossally naive’: the backlash against the birth control app”. And more articles have come out recently since the FDA has now approved the app to be advertised as birth control in the USA.
I would recommend reading the articles I’ve linked. But I wanted to reply to people’s concerns about my working with them last year. And I imagine people have the same concerns about other social media influencers who continue to work with them.
Natural Cycles isn’t for everyone
There is an ideal user of the app and if you don’t fit that box this method of contraception probably won’t work for you. I even talk about this in my video mentioning the type of person this would be best for:
- In a relationship
- Regular and predictable menstrual cycle
- Regular sleep routine
- Doesn’t travel across time zones a lot
- Doesn’t drink a lot
- Healthy (doesn’t get many colds, fevers)
But it seems a lot of people didn’t realise this and reported unwanted pregnancies (not great for a contraceptive app). But one of the things Natural Cycles is under investigation for is it’s advertising practices. Should Natural Cycles be more specific about the ideal user if you’re trying to avoid pregnancy? It might have meant that a lot of people never bothered with the app in the first place.
Fertility Awareness is a legitimate birth control method?
I think the main problem is that people just jump into this method without understanding how it works (e.g. it takes a few months for it to get to know your body so you should be using condoms for that time). And the other problem is that people aren’t talking to their doctors when switching to this method. The Fertility Awareness Method is not a new thing that came with apps. It’s a legitimate contraception, but whilst the app just tracks your cycle and temperature, with Fertility Awareness you also monitor your cervical mucus.
The NHS website also recommends you only use this method after being taught by a qualified fertility awareness teacher. So it’s complicated and requires commitment and training? I’m not surprised that if you aren’t given this information and just download an app and off you go that you might become pregnant. But if you’ve not had this specialist training and you’re using apps like Natural Cycles then whose responsibility is it to educate you? Yourself, the app, your doctor?
The ethics of influencer marketing
One of the other criticisms in the Guardian article was the way Natural Cycles has used influencer marketing – instagrammers showing the thermometer in stylish flat-lays. I think this criticism is fair because these posts promote a lifestyle – an idealised hormone free lifestyle – but with no education. It makes this method desirable without being clear that is doesn’t work for everyone. It may not even work for the person advertising it and yet they still claim it’s part of their morning routine.
Yes I know I made a whole video about Natural Cycles but it was a documentation of my experience using it and I very honestly came to the conclusion that it wouldn’t work for me. There is an expectation with influencer marketing that everything has to be super transparent and personal. Transparent, yes. Personal, not necessarily. Sometimes I promote stuff because I love it. Sometimes I promote stuff because it could be helpful to members of my audience.
So while I don’t regret working with them, I wish there was more education around how the app works. I don’t doubt it’s effective birth control when used correctly. But with human error, other factors that can effect results (alcohol, getting ill, travel, sleep) and a lack of education I’m not surprised there’s been a newsworthy/investigation-worthy amount of unwanted pregnancies reported. Maybe I’ll change my mind depending on what the investigations say but we can only wait.
All I’ll say is, whatever your birth control method, talk to your doctor, ask all the questions, do your research and use it correctly! I would love to hear your thoughts on this. Have you used the app? Do you think social media influencers should take more responsibility to educate on the things they’re promoting? Who’s more to blame – Natural Cycles or individual users?
I am assuming that when Natural Cycles approach influencers to see if they want to work with them, they don’t tell the influencer to specify that there are people who actually should probably not use their product. (Sorry if I’ve got this wrong Natural Cycles, maybe I’m presumptuous and you do make a point of telling people that maybe they shouldn’t buy your thing). You Hannah are in the minority of people I’ve seen take this responsibility upon themselves. I would never use Natural Cycles because I fit into the category of people who it would not work for, for a variety of reasons. However, there have been occasions when during my time on the pill I’ve been riddled with pill-induced depression and anxiety and, in a fog, would have done pretty much anything for that to go away. It worries me that there may be many people feeling what I would call ‘vulnerable’ on their hormonal birth control who may try an alternative such as Natural Cycles out of desperation without doing the appropriate research. I’m not saying this is NC’s fault as such, but I do think brands have a duty to be mindful of their audience and to provide a full picture of their intended user rather than trying to market to everyone. Otherwise it could be seen to be taking advantage of people. I don’t really know how influencers slot into this, but I was very grateful for the genuinely honest video that you made, rather than just blindly raving about it and telling people to try it out. I’ve seen a lot of that x
I think you did a really good job in your video of making it clear that it’s not for everyone. However a lot of influencers maybe sold too hard? Made it seem like a magical solution to contraception, I’d be interested to know (although definitely don’t feel like I have a right to know) if they have used it continuously since.
Nobody’s to blame. Its all about someone wanting to make money or having an opinion. As a social media influencer you have a right to talk about stuff your into or thinking about. If it’s wrong people will feel free to crusify you for comedy so you have nothing to be ashamed of.
As a huge follower of yours I thank you for bringing this to our attention Hannah. From all the media promotion and friends getting on board I’d decided that if I was to start having regular sex again I would try NC.. but reading these articles gives me a bit of a reality check to not forget the huge margin for human error and the fact that it is my responsibility to educate myself if I want to rely solely on an app.
I think there should be so much more emphasis on what the guardian says near the end ‘If getting pregnant would make you feel devastated.. this app’s not for you”. I think we’re all just so desperate for a non hormonal alternative and were too quick to jump on the bandwagon without giving it the necessary second thought.
I have personally used natural cycles for a year and fortunately not gotten pregnant. However no contraceptive method is 100% effective and any person using a contraceptive method should be aware of this. I agree that FAM is not the best choice for everyone just as the Pill or implant isn’t, so this leaves the responsibility to the user of any method to do their research to understand if it is right for them. However as a practitioner in women’s health I can not express my frustration enough with how poor the sexual health education is in this country, which influences women’s decisions in contraception. I am educated in FAM but I still receive negative comments from doctors when they ask me about my contraceptive method, which intern makes me feel stupid and naive, even though it is the practitioners who don’t understand the science behind FAM.
I truly believe that that it is not the person using natural cycles fault nor is it any of the companies, but the education of any contraception including hormonal and natural. The only way that people get an honest option, wither that is negative or positive, is through amazing people such as yourself who aren’t afraid to talk about these subjects. I apologise if this seams like a rant, its just a subject that I feel extremely passionate about xx
Great blog post Hannah! You’re always so real and true to yourself and your audience, something that many influencers aren’t 🙂
The thing is, I never considered Natural Cycles to be a contraceptive. Sure, it’s a tool which can help you, but it’s reliance on other methods (condoms) every month during the fertile time doesn’t allow me to think of it as a self contained method. Of course, contraceptive pill and other methods do sometimes require the use of secondary protection (e.g. In case of illness or diarrhoea), but that is usually in unusual situations.
On top of that, the long long LONG list of very specific requirements for NC to work is honestly ludicrous and it adds to this mindset that it’s okay for women to deal with a lot of shit just to not get pregnant. I feel like there is this societal acceptance of the side effects when it comes to female hormonal contraception. Accepting an app which requires you to live like a healthy lifestyle robot puts even more pressure on women (and people with uteruses) to just deal with the side effects and requirements, as if they were a punishment for rejecting a “normal” childbearing lifestyle we’re all meant to follow.
Hannah, your video on the subject was okay and I don’t blame you for accepting a sponsorship from them. But I do think we owe it to ourselves and future generations to demand better and safer methods, which don’t put a strain on our chosen lifestyles.
I discovered Natural Cycles through your video when you first posted it, and in the last two months went back and watched it because I wanted to come off the pill.
I then spent a good two weeks researching it and researching FAM and talking to my boyfriend about it, before finally signing up.
Maybe NC need to make an effort to highlight the “ideal” user (which I am because I fortunately tick almost every box) but it is also the responsibility of the individual to research ther contraception methods thoroughly – all methods have a failure rate and a person needs to take some responsibility to educate themselves.
I am really glad you did the Natural Cycles video Hannah. Before that I had never come across FAM mentioned in a critical or positive light, I had only been taught that it is fake contraception. I am so much happier off hormonal contraception, but I understand that I am so fortunate to be in a situation where FAM and NC are effective.
When I was in school we got a proper class to educate us about contraceptives and how they work. We were not allowed to take a pill without actually knowing how it works and understanding that we are now responsible for this. 9Still people got pregnant on the pill if they didn’t do it correctly and occasionally even with condoms. I don’t hear an outrage about this.) The same thing should go for all contraceptive. Maybe women just got excited about a contraceptive that seemed to free them from the responsibility, when in reality it didn’t. I think Natural Cycles has a great idea, but like you said it should be very clear to who the app is suitable for. Besides, when you check their website it promotes it more as an app to track your periods and when you are fertile which makes it sound as it is more for those who want to get pregnant.
It’s great that you wrote about this and that you clearly pointed out that it doesn’t work for everybody!
Really glad that you posted this response Hannah – once again showing how conscientious you are! I have use Natural Cycles in the past, and although I fit the ‘ideal user’ perfectly at the time, I decided it wouldn’t work for me because I couldn’t remember to always take my temperature in the morning! What surprises me most here, and without putting any blame directly on the people with unwanted pregnancies, is that clearly people are in need of more sex education. Yes, Natural Cycles is marketed as contraception, but we should all be aware that our hormones and menstrual cycles are affected by pretty much everything around us. I’m not sure whether it is Natural Cycles responsibility to have to explain that? Maybe I am wrong. Regardless, I think you do a FANTASTIC job talking about sex and our bodies. Keep up the bloody awesome work.
I use a fertility awareness based method (“symptothermale Methode” in german) and I’ve had a fairly good education on it. I’ve read several books and tracked a few cycles before starting to trust it as a contraception method, It has been developed in the last 40 years (and I think reseach on it started way before that) and it has clear rules which have been checked and improved over time. Every user needs to know those rules and should be able to apply them without the help of an app (never blindly trust an app. It is your body and you know it best).
So when I saw all this advertising for Natural Cycles, I was a bit concerned. What bothers me about it, is that they sell it as something new, which it is clearly not. It is a temperature-only method and there have been studies on that since the 1960s. There is a reason that with fertility awareness methods, you do not only take the temperature, you also track your cervical mucus or the position of the cervix. Just with the temperature you can only say when the ovulation is over, and even that needs to be double-checked with the other symptoms. But pre-ovulatory, there is nearly no safety in the temperature alone if you do not track the cervical mucus as well. It seems to me that Natural Cycles tries to sell you as many infertile days as possible, and that is just not what this contraception method is about. It should be about safety, and when in doubt you should consider a day as fertile and use an additional barrier method. If you apply the rules correctly, it can happen that (depending on how regular you are) out of a 30 day cylce, only a third is to be assumed infertile. That doesn’t sound very good and I think it would not sell as well. And I think that is why Natural Cycles ignores some of the (well researched) rules. For example, you should take your temperature for at least 3 minutes, the first 3 cycles are considered a learning phase, they do not apply a “-8-rule”, just to name a few.
So I think the way they tried to sell the Natural Cycles app is very irresponsible. Plus, they want a lot of money when all you actually need is a thermometer (not that expensive) and a piece of paper.
Still, I can’t really understand why people don’t educate themselves on such an important subject and risk getting pregnant just because an app told them it wouldn’t happen.
I downloaded the app but I have never used it as any form of contraception, despite that being why I was interested in it originally, and after opting for a hormonal contraception (the Mirena) I actually still use it. I was way too nervous to ever rely on Natural Cycles as a form of contraception but I got it out of curiosity and to get to know my cycle better. I find it really difficult to feel confident that I have measured my temperature accurately due to taking a strangely long amount of time in the morning to realise that I am in fact awake! I also wake frequently during the night. Before I started using hormonal contraception though, I did find that a pattern established and it was interesting to see the changes in my temperature did roughly follow that which is standard. Despite that, having read more about ovulation symptoms though, I never felt that the app was accurate in helping me know when I was fertile or not. I sensed that I had ovulated (due to feeling Mittelschmerz) before or after the app’s ‘detection’ of my ovulation. However I have continued to use the app and record my temperature and I still find it really interesting because it does show the effect that the hormonal contraception is having on my body – at least on my temperature. It now has a crazy variation rather than following that standard rise and fall pattern, up and down all over the place. The app didn’t suit me as a contraceptive but I’m happy that I investigated it. Personally, I feel like it is clear who it’s suitable for but I’m not sure if that’s because of other reading I’ve sourced information from. I agree with your list of criteria for the kind of person that it suits but I would also add that anyone using it must also be conscientious and dedicated to doing everything correctly. Beyond giving advice, the app can’t stop people making mistakes with it. I do wonder though if the ideal person to use it is just that, an idealism, and perhaps there isn’t a real person that actually fits the ideal criteria.