I Hate Ozempic

Flora Milford, Op-Ed Editor

I recently went to a vintage mall to indulge in my hoarderish habit of overconsumption. As I sifted through the troughs of denim everything and mothball-riddled college sweatshirts, I found something far more evil; a weightloss book from the 70s. This book touted a 1,200-calorie diet not as a means to get to the ends of skinniness, but as a normalcy. It charted different weights, and the amount of food, calories, and exercise a person at said weight should indulge in with the heaviest weight for a woman on the chart being one hundred and fifty pounds. 

I sat with the book for about 10 minutes, laughing at it, but also feeling a deep-rooted shame about my body, which according to this chart, was the heaviest a woman could exist at. 

This book sent my mind back to the early 2000’s, when as a kid, I was an avid reader of tabloid magazines, one of the most reactionary places to go for advice on how to take care of your body. I remember devouring articles where celebrities insisted they felt better sans weight loss, “Who Wore it Better” polls where the skinnier option always won, strategies for miracle weight loss, and the ever-present idea that one not eat above a certain amount of calories. Much of my favorite media comes from this time, but I find it more and more difficult to consume, as all I see are people I don’t look like and won’t look like. 

In recent years, however, it felt like we were getting somewhere. The body positivity movement made diversity amongst bodies seem cool, representation skyrocketed, and living in my body felt less isolating. Brands began to promote body positivity, with many even called out for their lack of diversity when it came to sizing. Much of this was purely capitalistic, but regardless of the monetary desires, we were still seeing something different. It was far from perfect, but it was a step. 

Then Ozempic became popular. 

Ozempic is a drug originally used to help people with type 2 diabetes regulate their blood sugar by helping the pancreas produce more insulin: a drug to help people with a disease have a better quality of life. It is now used widely as a drug for weight loss. 

This is problematic all around. From a purely medical standpoint, the demand for this drug has become so overwhelming that according to the Food and Drug Association (FDA), it has been in a shortage since 2022. This means that access for people who actually need it is limited. 

On a completely other note, this pathologizes fatness, equating it to a disease—like diabetes—that needs to be cured. As it enters the market as a weight loss solution, it begs the question as to why one wouldn’t take Ozempic if they could. Put into other words it asks; why wouldn’t you want to be skinnier if you could? 

This is evil. The demand that one put a substance in their body that has side effects of diarrhea, vomiting, constipation, dizziness, nausea, and reports of suicidal tendencies (also stated by the FDA) for the pure purpose of fitting a standard that shouldn’t exist to begin with. Additionally, as the drug was only approved for use in 2017, we don’t know of any long-term side effects. Yet we are so scared of bodies that don’t fit our perverse standards that we disregard this. 

This is also based on a sick assumption that anyone who is not skinny must be unhappy with their body. That if a miracle cure exists, everyone will want to take it. A New Yorker Article “Will the Ozempic Era Change How We Think About Being Fat and Thin?” states that “By providing an effective weight loss drug, Ozempic (or follow-on drugs) has the potential to wipe out obesity and help people overcome fat stigma.” I think it does just the opposite. It stigmatizes fatness so much it is attempting to wipe it from society altogether. Having a non-skinny body does not mean there is something wrong with your body. 

I hate Ozempic. I hate the way it is set to change the trajectory of what a body should and shouldn’t like. I hate that it assumes every person who isn’t stick-thin wants to be. I hate that it felt like we were getting somewhere—that bodies could be loved just for being bodies and being sexy however they looked. I hate that it is supposed to be something genuinely life-saving, and has become something harmful. Why do we need a cure for something that isn’t a problem?