Am I the only fat fuck left?
Ozempic and the erasure of diverse bodies in pop culture.
Modern western societies are obsessed with thinness. Prior to the 20th century, a fuller figure was associated with wealth and health. However, thinness began to be idealized by the early 1900s for many different reasons including the invention of standardized clothing sizes, urbanization and increased food availabilities (signaling self-control and moral superiority when thin). Since then we witnessed the “trends” of heroin chic in the 1990s, the 2000’s “size zero” and now: the ozempic craze.
Thinness as a tool to oppress women
While body standards affect everyone regardless of gender identity, they disproportionately focus on upholding a specific type of femininity - one that is often white, able-bodied and straight-presenting.
In her book “The beauty myth” Naomi Wolf talks about thinness as a tool to oppress women. She writes: “Dieting is the most political sedative in women’s history. A quietly mad population is a tractable one.” She discusses the simultaneous emergence of women’s rights like voting and working, alongside the societal fixation on thinness. This dynamic leads her to observe that “women’s bodies became the prison their homes no longer were”, highlighting how new freedoms were met with restrictive beauty standards.
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We love Euphoria’s Kat
Euphoria actress Barbie Ferreira has recently posted a selfie that sparked a lot of discussion online. Ferreira has been known for her role in Euphoria where she plays a body-conscious teen named Kat that over the course of the show starts reclaiming her body. “I spent my whole life afraid people were going to find out that I was fat. But honestly, who gives a shit. There’s nothing more powerful than a fat girl who doesn’t give a fuck” is one of the iconic quotes attributed to Kat. The character has received widespread praise online for authentically portraying the experience of having a larger body while also being empowering.
Breaking down fantasies
Even before her role in Euphoria, Ferreira has become the poster girl of the instagram-girl body positivity moment. In an interview with Vogue UK she literally said regarding the representation of different body types in media: “There’s this predestined fantasy in Hollywood and fashion that I’d literally love to see broken down so that anyone who is different can find their space in there.”
Unsurprisingly, fans were mad when Ferreira posted a selfie that displayed significant weight loss, making her adhere to the homogenous western beauty standards she has critized for many years. One viral tweet simply said: “am I the only fat fuck left”.
Insane weight loss transformations
While body weight changes are completely normal through life, the reactions need to be put into the current cultural context. It’s not about Barbie Ferreira losing weight, it’s about the erasure of plus-sized bodies in popular media. The Euphoria actress is just one of many celebrities going through what the internet calls “insane weight loss transformations”. Before Ferreira, there was Lizzo. Before Lizzo, there was Ashley Benson. Whether the weight loss was due to Ozempic or not, it’s about creating and adhering to unrealistic beauty standards.
Being fat as an act of resistance
In the latest iteration of The Trend Report, Kyle Raymond Fitzpatrick so beautifully writes: “Movements like body positivity, fat acceptance, and generally “being larger” are being kneecapped, that a bygone, gross ideology that fat people must “change”. […] Now, with weight loss technology advances, to be fat is “a choice” that the Western world will direct it’s perma-glare at.”
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He continues to talk about how simply not being white and skinny will automatically become counterculture. How - of course - fat people will cotinue to exist but life will become a lot harder for them than it already is.
Additionally to the blatant hate and discrimination, there will most likely be a steep increase in eating disorders (again). The prevelance of anorexia has seen a massive increase since thinness has become the norm in the west.
To be continued
In a culture where thinness has historically been used as a means to control women, the Ozempic craze underscores how body standards continue to evolve yet remain oppressive. This new obsession threatens to erase diverse representations of bodies. That’s why it is more important than ever to reject those narrow ideals, to champion body diversity and to advocate even louder for a cultural shift that values diversity over conformity.
amazing and incredibly important article, thank you! ♡
wonderfully written and you bring up interesting points. I also had some thoughts while reading it. you write "Before Ferreira, there was Lizzo. Before Lizzo, there was Ashley Benson." which is absolutely true but they have been heralded as the "face" of body positivity and plus size. does this kinda influence when they decide to lose weight bc they don't want that title? is this a conscious or unconscious decision? Hard to say. I just hope Barbie is happy and it was her own decision. anyways I'm really curious what you'll continue to write! <3