I know I’m not the only one that feels this way.
So I’m going to say it, and let it fall where it may.
The weight loss injection fad is bullshit.
What started as a diabetes medication- had the side effect of weight loss and big pharma went bonkers. This is a money grab and nothing more. Eventually the other shoe *will* drop. Just like it did with phen phen, just like it did with ephedren, just like it did with weight watchers.
What do all of the above mentioned products have in common?
Harm.
Longlasting, generational, systemic harm. Rooted in racism, encouraged by the patriarchy (read:pedophilia) and sold by pharmaceutical companies.
Fat phobia goes back to colonialism. (I recommend Sabrina Strings “Fearing the Black Body” as a starting point) That’s right, the same messaging that you’re hearing today from Ozempic, Wegovy, and Zepbound come from white fragility and dominance. From the 1400s to the 1600s the view of “slightness” went back and forth. Sometimes being celebrated, most of the time being demonized. Ultimately landing on the untruth that “Fat=Bad”. This disgusting and harmful rhetoric comes from white men who have something to gain by villainizing Black and Brown people. Being big, voluptuous, curvy, having rolls, eating a full meal (!) were all attributes that were calculatedly attached to being “savage”, or in another word – enslaved. The more that these old white and sad little men could villainize the humans they were murdering, trafficking and exploiting, the more public support they had. Therefore- freedom of money to be made.
It’s fucking disgusting.
This way of thinking was then translated into how we practice medicine. Which has never changed. Truly. Look up the statistics of death and complications for Black mothers as opposed to white women. I mean my god, the idea that Black people don’t feel pain like white people is literally still in the medical textbooks that your doctor had to study to graduate. (This is a truly abhorrent history. Enslaved women were used as medical test subjects without sedation because evil white men came up with the preposterous lie that Black women don’t feel pain. Look it up.) This belief and these practices weren’t just limited to Black humans. Any Indigenous peoples who were victims of colonization were subjected to the same treatment. Whatever facilitated rich, white men’s greed was considered truth and law. (Sound familiar in 2026?)
All of this to say- If you are feeling some type of way from being bombarded by commercials, social media and maybe even friends or family who have drank the proverbial ozempic kool-aid, you’re not crazy. You’re not alone. Dare I say, you are more evolved in your understanding of equality, equity and personal autonomy than most.
Are people allowed to pursue weight loss if they want to? Absolutely.
Does that have any moral value? Absolutely not.
Is weight alone an indicator of health? ABSOLUTELY FUCKING NOT.
Jenny
If you are struggling, there is support out there. Here are some links:
https://www.letsembodyconfidence.com/eating-disorder-body-image-therapy-pa
https://www.redefinetherapyreading.com/about-me
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