Losing a significant amount of weight is incredibly challenging but possible. So why is Ozempic being met with frantic disdain, when all it does is make weight loss less challenging ? The main points of objection over Ozempic are three. One, is that Ozempic — also known as semaglutide — is a drug specifically formulated for use in adults with diabetes. It also happens to prompt weight loss and doctors can prescribe it to treat cases of severe obesity.
The sudden surge in demand for the drug resulted in a concerning shortage in outlets. Many people question the ethicality of leveraging the drug for weight loss when alternative methods do exist, whereas diabetic individuals’ lives depend on it. To whom the priority should be given when it comes to securing this drug is up for debate. However, one can be assured that sooner or later —thanks to disaster capitalism — investors will be pouring money into producing Ozempic substitutes for personal use.
Two, everyone is lying about it. Save for a few celebrities who publicly discuss their journey on Ozempic, almost every public figure is now visibly down a couple of sizes without acknowledging it. Diet and exercise sure work but the main giveaway is the short time period in which those public figures shed the weight.
It’s almost unrealistic to lose certain amounts of weight at such a sporadic rate in such short time. Not only that, but there are visible indicators of Ozempic use that the public theorizes. “Ozempic face” is a term used to describe a certain look people acquire when losing weight too quickly. It’s characterized by slightly loose skin and hollowed, gaunt looking faces that appear on individuals who didn’t have those features before. Possibly due to the skin’s inability to shrink back at the same speed at which fat is lost.
In the past couple of years, we witnessed a change in the images presented by the media. Body positivity and body neutrality gained popularity, so intensely that major companies started adopting such standards to cater to the public. As insincere and petty as most of these capitalist attempts were, they were still a win for the public. We were finally seeing average bodies on the screen after decades of aspiring to be “Heroin Chic”.
This victory is now threatened with the rise of Ozempic weight loss. Celebrities and influencers, who were nowhere near obese to begin with, are suddenly model skinny. Attributing it to a healthier diet and exercise simply doesn’t suffice anymore.
The pitfalls of the beauty standards presented by the media can be boiled down to being unattainable and unsustainable. Unattainable because of the extreme measures it takes to achieve those ideals and unsustainable because women’s real bodies go in and out of trends as if they were mere silhouettes without flesh or bone.
Nevertheless, the body shaming women are subject to has to be taken into consideration when talking about Ozempic. Not even the most famous female celebrities are safe from the ridicule. Artists such as Lana Del Rey and Selena Gomez have been the target for harsh online trolling over their weight fluctuations. It’s a fact that some individuals are naturally skinny and some aren’t. Expecting all women to fit into the current trending body type may be one sign of the dehumanization women have been and still are being subject to on varying levels.
Disclaimer: The choice to include the public figures shown in my photo edits is based on their apparent weight loss.
This essay does not claim or speculate that they used Ozempic or any other methods.
by Ella 