Have new weight loss drugs changed what it means to be body positive? : Consider this from NPR

America is a land of contradictions; While we’re known as a nation that loves to eat, we also live within a culture that has long valued thinness as the ultimate standard of beauty.

Of course, a consumer-oriented culture doesn’t necessarily align with this body type, and for some people, tying self-esteem to one’s weight became increasingly unsustainable as diet culture and media messages leaned more in one direction: be thin or be nothing.

Over the past few years, the body positivity movement has pushed this notion back. It helped lead to more inclusive ads and models, larger size ranges for clothing, and a greater push for people to accept themselves at all sizes. But then along came a new class of weight loss drugs.

You’re reading the Consider This newsletter, which unpacks a major news item each day. Subscribe here to receive it in your inbox and hear more Consider this podcast.

The new “miracle” drugs for weight loss

As the new class of weight-loss drugs, called GLP-1, sold under names like Wegovy and ZepBound, hit the market, they immediately became a huge hit with Hollywood celebrities and everyday people alike. who wanted to lose weight with less difficulty.

The drugs work by mimicking a hormone that increases satiety and decreases food intake. Although many of them were originally intended for patients with diabetes and may have some serious adverse side effects, the impact of these drugs for weight loss has already been proven. Many of the most popular brands have faced shortages amid high demand, and for good reason. Patients have reported losing weight easily and quickly, without having to make drastic lifestyle changes, or even exercise. Some have hailed it as a “miracle” drug.

An uncertain future for body positivity

There is a lot of noise, especially for women, about what it means to have a healthy body. A lot of social energy is spent debating the value of cardio, or carbs, and which new fad diet might finally work.

But, after all, having a “healthy” body has been most synonymous with being thin. Body positivity activists have long challenged this notion with the slogan “Healthy at any size.”

But New York Magazine Contributing writer Samhita Mukhopadhyay grapples with the possible future of such a movement in her recent article, “So Body Positivity Was a Big Lie?”

Mukhopadhyay, who describes herself as a body positive feminist, spoke about her own experience after taking the weight loss drug Mounjaro for a year for her own health, and how she tried to understand her relationship with her own body after.

“I think the obsession with celebrities and our obsession with celebrities taking them has created an environment where we’re not really evaluating these drugs for their true value,” Mukhopadhyay told NPR’s Juana Summers.

“That they are a medical intervention, a necessary medical intervention for a country that is struggling with diseases that are related to obesity and to our body size and, frankly, the types of foods and activities that we have access. And I think it’s very easy to combine this medical intervention with the requirement of mandatory thinness, which is still part of the culture in which we live.”

For more on the ever-evolving conversation about health, size and whose business it is, listen to the full episode by hitting the play button at the top of the page.

This episode was produced by Marc Rivers, with audio engineering by Neil Trevalt. It was edited by Courtney Dorning. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.