H3ALTH Talk • Episode 11
January 17, 2024
Indulge in a Wellness Retreat at Hilton Head Health
February 12, 2024By: Anne Poirier, Director of Behavioral Health
Is the popularity of the new ‘weight loss’ medications going to affect all the progress that has been made through the body positivity and the newly emerging body neutrality movements?
Let’s take a look at some of the facts and some of the variables.
What we know is that weight loss medications are helping people to manage and control their type 2 diabetes, and supporting others who have health complications due to obesity because of the way it effects weight. And research is pointing to the fact that these medications can be useful tools towards bettering one’s overall health.
We also know that they
- Don’t work for everyone.
- Have a list of side effects including gastrointestinal symptoms like nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, etc.
- That you most likely have to keep taking them long-term.
- Are expensive and hard to get.
Future thinking…
Let’s take a moment to imagine that these meds worked for everyone who wanted to lose weight, were available to them and very affordable.
What would that do to the average size and shape of bodies? What would it do to the way we see bodies? Would there be more shame around having a larger size body? Would there be less value in the size of the body? Would all people feel good in their bodies? Would everyone love their bodies?
The answers to these questions are unknown right now, so your guess would be as good as mine, and because of that, we pose this question:
How will these medications impact the Body Positivity Movement?
What we do know in regard to the body positive movement, is that there has been an uptick with more inclusive body sizes we see in both media and fashion. This evolution has come partly because of the body positivity and also most recently the body neutrality movements.
The connection with what these new meds means to the overall body image movement is both sensitive and complex…mostly due to the individual perspectives of the people who support them.
Before we dive in anymore, let’s define body image:
Body Image is the perception we have about our bodies, and is made up of the feelings, thoughts, and the beliefs we have about our body.
Body Positive supporters, advocates and subscribers lie on a spectrum. At the one end there are people who feel this movement has helped them feel seen, heard and validated for not having a body that looks like what our society has deemed accepted and, in some instances, healthy. I call this “Society’s thin ideal.”
The people who are on this side of the spectrum are more apt to look at a decision to take one of these medications as a personal choice. Some will choose to and others will not. Taking the medication would be considered a tool to help them improve overall health and wellness.
On the other end of the spectrum, we have body positivity activists, including people who are a part of the body and fat liberation movements. This group works at tearing down the systems that have created a world where there is noticeable and proven discrimination of those who live in larger size bodies.
On this end of the spectrum, individuals will see the choice of taking this type of medication as conflicting with the principles of the body positivity and body liberation movements. This group would consider these medications to perpetuate the already strong discrimination of people who live in larger size bodies.
This is why this subject is so sensitive, complex and individual. Each person along the spectrum will have different thoughts and opinions about the use of these medications. And just because these medications are now around, that won’t change the fact that there will continue to be individuals who will advocate for both the body positivity and body neutrality movements, making it accessible for those who want and/or need it.
Here at Hilton Head Health, we embrace Body Neutrality. Body Neutrality shifts the focus of body image away from the body’s appearance and towards how the body feels and the body’s function. This is a concept that is strengthened by working towards body appreciation (for all the things that the individual body can do) and body respect, where we educate that the body deserves respect in the way it is treated and talked about.
With all that said, both Body Positivity and Body Neutrality share a common theme: To reduce body shaming (yours and others) bullying, weight stigma and bias due to size, shape and weight. While also helping people heal from the blame, shame and criticism they have felt about their bodies for years and even decades. (Oprah is a great example of this).
Both movements, in their own way, focus on Body Autonomy: the right granted to every person to have the right to control what are the things to be or not done to their own bodies.
Can we as a society, help encourage body autonomy by empowering people to make choices for themselves, (with their doctor’s help) without having to deal with and be influenced by all the noise of what other people think, and the judgment and stigma of weight loss?
My hope is that we can look at these medications as a health and wellness tool,
WHILE ALSO working to reduce body shaming, bullying, and weight stigma.
Regardless, body image work, right alongside other healthy behaviors are recommended by most physicians (and all of us here at Hilton Head Health), for those who decide to take any of these medications as a tool along their health and wellness journey.