I couldn’t read anything about the diabetes drug Ozempic and its increasing use (and abuse) for weight loss. I could not read that buzzy New York Magazine cover story – or whom they followed to New York. I am deleting the word “ozempic” from Twitter. I couldn’t even bring myself to read personal heartwarming posts or tweets from other fat women that I respect and follow.
There was a moment a few years ago when it seemed like our thin-obsessed culture was moving ever so slightly.
There was a moment a few years ago when it seemed like our thin-obsessed culture was moving ever so slightly. we saw Plus-size model Tess Holliday on the cover of Cosmopolitan UK and it’s fun companies like Old Class promising more size inclusivity. Conversations about body problems and the dangers of diet began to become a constant initiative when they became more frequent in the mainstream.
But, I think we can agree, that point has been overlooked. Ozempic is not so much the cause as the loudest bell of this regressive change.
I was a teenager with the ‘heroin chicks’ of the ’90s, with their Calvin Klein ads and low-rise jeans and Kate Moss banging them.except for the tastes which the invalid feels good. The high fashion of my youth was designed to accentuate just how thin you could be.
So maybe it’s not surprising that I have an eating disorder even in my 20s. For me, too many pills and appetite suppressants were a big part of my illness. Even the majority? Keeping all secrets. I never told anyone I was taking diet pills. I gave them away from my friends and roommates, and sometimes even bought them from pharmacies in several towns.
And yet I didn’t always recognize someone who had an eating disorder. I was never publicly diagnosed, because I never asked a doctor if I was safe to do anything. If I demonstrated a consistent weight loss, I was celebrated without being questioned. As Dr. Deb Burgard on the boardsfate“We prescribe the same fat as the sick and the thin.”
Although I would most like to be in the thin world, I didn’t want anyone to know that I was going to live there. That’s why talk about Ozempic as a “miracle drug” feels so dangerously familiar. Because suddenly, after more than a decade of therapy and hard work learning to love my fat body, I recently found myself considering weight loss again. Late at night, in the evening, I was breathing with anxiety, I made scenarios: What if I secretly started Ozempic? Could he find a doctor who would prescribe this? What if I worked out and lost tons of weight? I began to imagine how I would keep the secret; how to talk about my sudden change to family and friends.
It’s terrible to have these types of thoughts again. And that’s a reminder that I always have. And that brings me back to the way Ozempic’s talk, and Ozempic’s use, is shaping and reshaping the pop culture and celebrity landscape. It’s hard to admit, but there’s one part that protects my heart when consuming social media to fill it with positive representation of the fat community. Seeing a plus-size celebrity like Lizzo or Melissa McCarthy being really modest and confident makes a difference. This makes me feel like a less distant person who embraces a larger body.
I want to make it clear: No one owes us his body. Not even celebrities. I believe in body autonomy in all its forms, which includes losing weight if that’s what you want to do with your body. But when we lose fat representation — when celebrities suddenly lose weight or our fat icons lose media attention — it’s fair to acknowledge the collective loss. I feel the loss now.
Which brings me back to the way Ozempic’s speech, and Ozempic’s use, is shaping and reshaping the pop culture and celebrity landscape.
And there are fewer and fewer safe spaces in which to process that damage. I’m talking about a time when fat people even had to watch movies about a disabled fat person, written and literally written by a thin person. “Balia” won several Oscars — even to the design of the fat suit.
The year is 2023, and a thin body, regardless of the cost or consequence, is still considered ideal. This, although there is a lot of evidence that fat is not a certain death sentence, and that fat can really create a stigma. worse results For many are fatter than any one number of pounds. (And the more we hide this shame by calling it, the worse it turns out).
Fat has always been radical in a society that values thinness. Now, in every story I find myself avoiding, I look for a story or post about the joy of being fat. Most of us are just trying to move in a physical world that refuses to conform to the standards of beauty. There is no miracle “cure” in the world that will change the fact that people are often fat paid lessThey are disproportionately ad we are in danger of dying and dyingand receive dire medical care.
The thing is, it doesn’t need to be fixed, or to fit a certain ideal body. and they do not relationship Ozempic. We deserve to be treated with the same dignity and respect as anyone else.
