Does the age of Ozempic and MJ jabs expose what a load of bollocks the ‘Body Positivity’ and ‘Health at any Size’ movements were

[Lardychops]

I was always very clear in my own mind as a very overweight woman, that the body positivity moment was far less about inclusion and moral neutrality around body size (including when seeking healthcare, and waaayy more about trying to persuade/pressurise men into include larger/very fat women in their dating pool. It seemed to wholly focus on fat being seen as sexy (‘real men actually want meat not bones’ etc) and also included a lot of thin-shaming/highly derogatory language about men and women who have/prefer slim or smaller bodies
With the wide availability of Weight loss jabs, however, as far as I can see many of the movement’s most ardent activists and celebrity advocates appear to have done a complete U-turn and are literally unrecognisable as half (or even a third) of the person the used to be!!
From Megan Trainor proving that it wasn’t ‘all about the base’ after all, and to Lizzo who would at one point only hire plus size dancers and backing singers; to the plus size influencers Gabby Lascano and Sophie Goodman who literally built their careers reaching 1000’s of followers, on the ‘big is not only beautiful but BETTER ’ mantra -they are all literally shrinking in plain sight!!

I have lost stacks of weight on WLI’s and am no longer fat. It’s fabulous and a game changer.
I make no bones about the fact that I would crawl through a mile of shit for my weekly dose/pay double for them if I had to. Same for many of my friends. We hated being fat when we were fat and made no secret of it.

I feel that the (now very slim) previous proponents of the body positive /fat is beautiful and healthy (see also: slim, fit attractive men should date us or they are evil shits ) movement are total
hypocrites given the numbers of people that buy their music/watch their films/ consume their content follow them on SM etc etc - many of which can’t access these miracle cures for financial/health reasons etc.
The knots these women tie themselves in trying to justify their weight-loss while not looking like a total twat ( they do - just be honest love ) to satiate their larger bodied fans is utterly galling and I think exposes the whole moment for what it was.

I think its just an example of a culture war for those that want to indulge.

One group or community or type has to be seen as 'better', more fun, more interesting, in order to do that, you have to criticise and shame and berate a different group

It was seen and still is seen in the fat vs thin discourse. Slim people, women more often being seen as ripe for shaming or criticising
The same narrative has been going on for years about women being 'better' than men, years ago there were comedy adverts showing how inept men were, how incapable.
Same narrative around the trans issue, trans people are apparently more interesting, more fun, more open than boring old non trans people, particularly women who arent even proper women compared to transwomen, they can 'outwomen us' apparently
Same narrative Ive started to see creeping in around neurodivergence, a thread was shut down yesterday which had a whole host of how awful NT people are and not as clever, interesting, havent contributed to development of society and Ive just spotted something similar on another thread although not quite as bad.

Its great to be positive about yourself and proud of who you are, but not at the expense of putting down others.

I'm on WLI after trying to lean in to body positivity for years, and succeeding to some degree.
But then, being slim felt like it wasn't really an option before for me. I had tried and failed at diets for twenty years. Body positivity felt like a truce even if the desire to be naturally thin never left me.

Now that I can be sustainably and almost naturally slim and not obsess over food, well that's a game changer. Now, given the choice, yes I choose being slim, over being fat and body positive. Simply put, the goal posts have shifted.

Having said all that, and even accepting that I might be on WLI forever more, I am challenged when I think of my children for example. They likely have my disposition to weight gain and being on the bigger side (unless they starve themselves). Do I want a lifetime of WLI for them?

Actually I would love for them to be body positive. And even better at it than me where they don't value thinness as much as me. So then I do feel hypocritical.

I had a conversation about this last week and my friends said “it’s back to the nothing tastes as good as skinny feels” and I sadly think she is right.

Im far from skinny but I’m fit and healthy and personally that’s my goal.

Oh absolutely. Many of the militant fat activists have now lost significant amounts of weight. It’s sickening as many tried to demolish the very basic idea that being obese is inherently unhealthy. Who knows how many people they’ve done actual harm to. Many people were taken in by the “health at any size” agenda. Sickening really.

Yep, it was a load of shit. A marketing scheme. As soon as fat people could get their hands on anything to lose weight - they did

I don't agree. Now you're slimmer, do you think fat people should be treated badly? If so, that's definitely a you issue.

I think the root is actually the same - a recognition that weight is not a marker of women's value, because women's primary purpose is not to be a sexual object.

And a recognition that staying slim is harder for some than others, and woman aren't lazy or useless if they struggle with their weight.

I was never remotely positive about being fat. I dont know anybody who was .

I think you need to look at the age range of these people. When we were younger we shrugged it off but then we had children to run around after or run up the stairs and realised we were out of breath. There is also the health risks of being over weight mainly morbidly obese that people are looking at as well as quality of life. We have now become focused on being fitter and stronger and being around to old age. We are also looking at the way we eat and going against the grain of medicine where everyone is now looking at alternatives after problems with health. I would say the shift in the media is more about health then weight

I’ve struggled with my weight for most of my adult life - am now a size 14-16 with an underactive thyroid and lipodoema - and could never see anything remotely positive about being unhealthily obese. I have even heard talk of a plus-size community. Ridiculous. I wish I could afford weight loss injections but am trying to think about “food noise” in the same way that the injections promote.

I think there was a lot of things claiming the very broad “body positivity” umbrella.

That ranged from the perfectly sensible and admirable “your worth is not defined by your size” through to the nonsensical “morbidly obese doesn’t mean unhealthy!!” and then onto the unpleasant “I wouldn’t want to be some horrible bag of bones anyway, ewwww. Men want real women, not someone with no boobs who looks like a boy!”

My original reply was deleted, apparently you can say what you like about fat people, but you have to be nice as pie to the newly thin.

Whilst some influencers were undoubtedly nuts, I think it's a shame if feeling good about yourself regardless of your size and not treating your weight as a moral failing. Also, that larger women can be and are loved. Even the 'Healthy at any size' can be read more than one way- obesity isn't healthy, but it's still healthier to be obese but swim every day or use the gym, than it is not to be.

I guess we're back to the days of fat women being the butt of all jokes, laughed at if they try to exercise, told no man would want them (because women only exist to please men), and generally thrown on to the scrapheap. And given the cost of WLIs we can add to the list of shaming insults that you're poor too. Fat, poor, net taker=deserving of hatred.

I am seeing so much vitriol towards people in slimmer bodies recently. Heroin chic / ozempic face / walking skeletons / Kate moss / nothing tastes as good.. / lollipops/ accusations of eating disorders. Body positivity should include all bodies, sure? As long as they are healthy. A healthy bmi goes down to 18.5 and up to 25, that’s a big range. If you get to the lower end people start making comments regardless of what your weight and bmi are. And it seems almost more accepted to call out and make comments on slim people?

Ive been obese, I’ve been overweight and now I’m a healthy weight. Aside from the “heroin chic” comments, I find life is much easier and nicer being slim.

Im grateful it was easier for me to buy a size 16 in recent years than in was in the 90s where Evan’s was my only choice. But I wasn’t healthy.

Well, they do say nobody hates fat people like former fat people who have lost weight.

The problem is no matter how much we spin it being over weight just isn't healthy

body positivity start off as just celebrating bodies of all different shapes and sizes, it wasn’t about celebrating being morbidly obese as far as I’m aware

This.

Yes and no.

YABU - we needed to sort our attitudes out a bit. Bridget Jones diary really had us looking at Renee Zelleegger in a UK size 10 - 12 and believing she was actually fat.

YANBU - Megan trainer is a massive hypocrite and a size 30 is desperately unhealthy - not body positive messaging.

I agree, OP.

I was in a body positivity fb group for a while years ago. The group was for everyone who didn't feel they fit 'Western Beauty Standards' for any reason.

I never posted, but initially, it was really supportive to those who did and it was uplifting just reading the support and kindness towards others regardless who posted or who responded. Women who had ventured to the gym despite feeling self conscious about their wobbly bits were championed. Women who had avoided being in photos with their children bravely posted a holiday snap and were loved for it. Women who didn't know how to eat healthily had tried a new recipe and shared it to congratulations.

No achievement was too big or too small. No woman was too big or too small.

I left when I realised it had morphed into something very different indeed.

Eventually, the only acceptable body size on there was obese/morbidly obese. The only acceptable level of exercise was none. Every common or garden overweight/mid sized women who posted was pilloried and woe betide you if you were slimmer and just lacked body confidence. I remember one woman who posted a few months post partum with a crepey belly and wobbly thighs who was clearly really struggling with the change in her body and early motherhood. But because she was a size 10ish, she was absolutely ripped to shreds and bullied from the group.

Eventually, no one was safe on there really, even the acceptably large women who posted that they wanted to go swimming or join a gym for fitness or to lose weight because they wanted to TTC or because they wanted to be able.to run around the park with their children or see their children grow up were attacked as traitors and mocked for believing the lies and propaganda.

Only a complete rejection of healthy eating and exercise was accepted. Only a complete rejection of self care was championed. Anyone sharing that they'd 'fallen off the wagon' diet and exercise wise was celebrated and welcomed back into the fold. Only complete submission to the bigger is not only beautiful but better in every way mantra was acceptable.

Nothing other than being very overweight was even represented anymore. No acne scars, no thinning hair, no disliked facial features, heights, nothing.

It was vicious and, tbh, irresponsible. I can't really convey how toxic it was in the end.

I don't think body positivity had been about actual body positivity for a long time.

Yeah, I think you've said it very well. It's not saying 'No one should ever try to be slimmer' but it might help people for whom, for whatever reason, it's really difficult to lose weight. I had a friend who was trying to lose weight but overeating was really caught up with historic mental health issues for her and so it was incredibly hard for her. Body positivity was a good thing for her. I've lost touch with her, but maybe now she's on jabs for all I know and that doesn't make her a hypocrite - her weight issue was just really complex and 'diet and exercise' was not a simple matter, so a less fraught solution could be welcome.

Yeah the "only a dog wants a bone" comments were quite nasty but I always understood that it came from a place of insecurity. Ive never been overweight but I have empathy for those who struggle. Sometimes people dont realise how hurtful their comments were towards slim women because they were too wrapped up in themselves to give it much thought. I'm glad that ozempic is now available so that more people can feel good about themselves.

I do think it is important for anyone over weight to be able to get well fitting clothes that they feel good in, Doesn’t matter what others might see or think, people need to feel good. This is what body positivity was for me - feeling comfortable in my own skin. I was under no illusion it was unhealthy to be so over weight but I needed to get to a place I could tackle it successfully. I was allowed to look as good as possible in the interim!

It was always bollocks. I remember the model Crystal Renn gain a load of weight and went about making it her mission to get “bigger” models and “real” women into the industry - while wanging on about how toxic the industry was and how she was happier now with her new body - then a few years later shed all the weight (presumably didn’t work out as well as she’d hoped and she didn’t actually prefer being bigger after all) ?

as you say OP - It was mainly something bigger women used to try and normalise obesity rather than actually being about acceptance/being neutral and ensuring people were treated the same regardless.

I also agree there was a lot of nastiness to naturally thin women - a lot of “size zero aren’t real women”. I can assure you we are very real and trying to quietly get on our lives - just that we were disliked because we werent fat.

All of these women championing “body positivity” now have a way to loose weight that’s accessible and works for them and suddenly they don’t want to be bigger and body positive after all. So yes it did rather point to hypocrisy imo.

What happened to the body neutrality thing? That made sense to me, but I suppose 'let's just give less of a shit about other people's appearances' just didn't get the clicks.

Totally agree OP. But you're not allowed to say it. And heaven forbid you are happy with weight loss on weight loss injections. We're nothing but great big cheaters.

The part of me that mostly irritates me now, is that sizes have been inflated to make fat people feel better, so now at 7st 7, I can't find any clothes in normal shops that don't just hang off me.

I do find it hilarious that Meghan Trainor was all “I’m bringing booty back, go ahead and tell them skinny bitches that” but as soon as the opportunity came to become a “skinny bitch” herself without actually having to put any work in she jumped right at it!