The morbidly obese members of the so-called National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance (NAAFA) have predictably come out against weight-loss drugs like Ozempic because they “stigmatize” being a fatty.
“Ozempic is 100% making things worse for us,” NAAFA executive director Tigress Osborn complained to The Wall Street Journal.
“It’s created an even louder public narrative that you could just solve all your problems by taking this magical drug, and if you don’t take it, well then, you deserve what you get,” she added.
I will never stop imagining my fat running wild and free whenever someone types they are trying to loose weight! LET IT LOOSE! #yougocatchtheserolls!
— Tigress (@iofthetigress) November 4, 2021
“People think that if everyone can just take this expensive, dangerous drug, we can get rid of fat people,” longtime Bay Area fat activist Marilyn Wann added.
“These drugs are going through the same excitement-and-disappointment cycle we’ve seen with every method of intentional weight loss. It just creates more work for fat activists,” she continued.
Pamela Mejia, a fat bias researcher for NAAFA, went on to complain about so-called anti-fat prejudice.
“I have a doctor who is convinced that everything that happens to me, from a sprained ankle to a migraine, would be helped if I lost weight,” she said.
“Once I fell and bruised myself hiking and the doctors said, ‘It would be better if you lose weight.’ I just fell off a mountain! Does he think the mountain attacked me because I’m fat?” she added.
Thought I would check in with the “fat scholars” on how they were handling all the buzz around Ozempic. Nevermind the health benefits of losing weight; Ozempic is fatphobic. More “critical fat perspectives” are needed to “protect the future of fatness.” pic.twitter.com/dwlFcnoQfv
— Christina Buttons (@buttonslives) May 26, 2024
Esther Rothblum, a psychology professor and former Fat Studies editor, echoed Mejia’s gripes.
“The most pressing issue to me is how amazingly negative and gratuitous the negative stereotypes are against fat people and all the daily ways in which this bias is made clear,” she whined.
“People say things about fat people that they would never say about black or elderly or gay people. It’s very hard to be a member of any oppressed group in society but when it comes to fatness, people don’t even see a problem with their prejudice,” she added.
Over on the other side of the aisle are former fatties like Tommy Tomlinson, the author of the 2019 memoir, “The Elephant in the Room: One Fat Man’s Quest to Get Smaller in a Growing America.”
For him, weight-loss drugs like Ozempic have been a blessing.
“The constant food noise in my head, always thinking about the next meal, looking up the menu for the place you’re going to that night—all that has disappeared,” he said. “It’s an incredibly transformative thing in my life.”
But Osborn alleged that she isn’t trying to be a buzzkill for guys and gals like Tomlinson.
“My goal isn’t to stop people from wanting to lose weight,” she said. “[It’s] to reach more people with the knowledge that you don’t have to beat yourself up over being in this body, that we can work toward creating a world where people can live freely in the bodies they are in.”
They call this “fat pride.”
Fat Pride Week was a phenomenal success. Congratulations to Mx. Fat Pennsylvania Sharia Lawson. Special thanks to Donna Muumuu for gracing us with her dazzling drag performance, and to Dr. Ann Lesby, Mx. Ferrie Ryder, Zaruh Dokter, Veganix Sweets & Treats, and The Shakettes. pic.twitter.com/nxJuUSa3v6
— ACL University (Rody, PA) ️ (@ACL_Univ) October 17, 2022
The problem with “fat pride” is that it’s not healthy.
“According to a recent paper in JAMA, employees with obesity have seven times the medical claims costs and 11 times the indemnity claims costs of those with a healthy weight,” the Journal notes. “They file twice as many worker compensation claims.”
“These costs correspond with obesity’s significant health consequences, which include osteoarthritis, hyperlipidemia and other chronic diseases. Obesity-related complications include incontinence, asthma, psoriasis, reflux and kidney disease,” the reporting continues.
This leaves each fat person to decide what’s more important — being proud of their fat, or living a long, healthy life …
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
V. Saxena is a staff writer with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University. Saxena also contributes to BizPac Review.
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