The headlines scream with glee: Latest wonder drug to “cure” obesity.
We have faced these headlines before. Time and Again, dubious and ineffective solutions to obesity gain prominence. Pills, tonics, elixirs, zumba, nom and now ozempic.
The latest wonder drug is semaglutide, a drug invented to assist diabetics control blood glucose levels, but it surely has the notable side effect of severe weight reduction — for which it's off-label. is advisable. It has been declared by many to finish within the elimination of fat bodies.
The fatphobia that underlies such a declaration is nothing recent.
What makes this moment different from others, is the damaging rhetoric by which it's recorded. This rhetoric elevates the abnormal and normal fat shaming that fat people must endure and resist to an unprecedented level.
Even before, fat people haven't been seen as disposable life savers. For example, amid fears of a shortage of beds for COVID-19 patients throughout the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ontario government drafted a triage protocol that prioritized individuals who were diagnosed with COVID-19. 19 usually tend to survive.
The move caused an uproar. From hundreds of organizationsLed by the ARCH Disability Law Center. Given the history of discrimination by obese people in environments which might be presupposed to provide care, Fat communities also mobilized globally raising the alarm about the opportunity of discrimination against them.
Fat haters
After news of Ozempic's ability to assist its users drop pounds, it didn't take long for the fat haters to come back out.
Two weeks ago, columnist Barbara Kay Declared the death of obesity politics. (aka the fat liberation movement). He wrote that the arrival of those drugs would result in a once-and-for-all victory over obesity, eliminating fat activity.
Ozempic is being in comparison with spectacles for near or farsighted people. But, its promise of a fat-free future is unsustainable.
It's steeped in a hatred of fat that may further damage our bodies and our relationship with food.
The language of 'miracle cures'
Let's start with the language.
gave The language used around Ozempic is about ending the so-called “obesity epidemic.” The very detail is provided with the concept of eliminating fat people.
First, Ozempic doesn't treat obesity. Some users of the drug have lost plenty of weight, but they must take this expensive drug eternally.
If you stop taking the medication or if the medication is modified, you Like 97 percent of all dietersgain that weight back and more.
Also, restricting or suppressing calorie intake – or your body's natural cravings – is dangerous. After being quiet for thus long, these urges can come back with a vengeance. Ghrelin hormonewhich increases one's appetite.
Ozempic can drop one in every of the desirable weight related to obesity or areas prone to obesity. Yet, in a world stricken by scientific uncertainty, the promise of “cures” as magical elixirs is science's ultimate expression of defeating the evil enemy.
Then there's the second 'O' word: obesity
Obesity is widespread in society.
The latest news is that obesity drugs, reminiscent of Ozempic and other semaglutide drugs in high doses, are changing health as we comprehend it.
Governments aim to finish obesity. Individuals are encouraged to do every little thing of their power to avoid becoming or becoming “obese”. This, although the measure of obesity, body mass index (BMI), is widely considered a poor measure of health.
Governments are under increasing pressure to supply these drugs as a part of the universal health care basket. Social media is abuzz with Ozempic talk and the hashtag #Ozempic has garnered an astounding 1.2 billion views on TikTok.
@RemiBader/Instagram
A distorted picture of unwanted effects
The Crusaders are half right. Ozempic is actually changing how we understand health.
The bad news is that it paints a very distorted picture of patients whose lives can be transformed if only they may lose that weight. Although initial concerns were raised that these injections are just for diabetes and mustn't be used strictly for weight reduction, these concerns appear to have been dispelled. Ozempic manufacturer Novo Nordisk is issuing a warning. Drug shortages are expected in Canada..
A notable side effect of Ozempic Suicidal ideation is alleged.. However, while you're within the midst of an obesity epidemic, the unwanted effects are, well, secondary.
Ozempic's marketing message
What other messages can we read from Ozempic's marketing? Highly visible advertisements have appeared in places reminiscent of the outside of Behind the Toronto streetcars and home plate at the Blue Jay Games, Criticism by some doctors and medical ethicists.
Journalist Rachel Pick recently argued. that using these drugs for weight reduction encourages an abnormal view of self: “It doesn't ask us to work on how we treat others, it only asks us to work on our own. To feel higher about says it's pure self-love, with the emphasis on 'self': the final word navel-gazing exercise.
Obesity Biopolitics: Selling the 'Fat-Free Future'
Drugs like Ozempic will be considered a type of “pre-emptive obesity biopolitics”, a term utilized by geographers within the United Kingdom. Beth EvansTo define policy interventions that seek to forestall the long run of obesity in the current.
Noom, a cognitive behavioral therapy-powered weight reduction company, has similar aspirations to assist them. Call pre-chronic patients.Candidates are waiting.
All of those approaches seek to create recent markets of concerned consumers who're concerned about their weight. Everyone can get on the bandwagon that tramples fat people in pursuit of wealth and market share, even when it means pushing unrealistic and unattainable ideals of beauty and size.
Although columnist Kaye was quick to rejoice the so-called end of the “politics of obesity” upon Ozimpek's arrival, we may as an alternative be witnessing the dawn of a politics that embraces all its forms. I'm busy fighting fat phobia and fat aversion.
A future without fat is a dystopian aspiration. And that is what fails to acknowledge the vital role of fat in our bodies and body politics.