Is it just me or is the timeline shrinking?

Photo by Alexander Shatov on Unsplash

I’m going to just go ahead and say the obvious…..everyone is getting skinny again. My timeline is literally shrinking in front of my eyes. And while the TikTok algorithm is out of my control, my Instagram feed are folks that I have consciously followed over the years. Many of the accounts I was following are body positive folks, fat liberation activists, or full bodied fashion girlies. I followed many of these folks because of the work they were doing. Because they were proudly displaying their bodies and embracing their curves, belly rolls, and fupas. Because I like seeing body diversity in my feed. Because bodies come in all different shapes and sizes. 

But over the past year, I slowly began noticing something. So many people were getting thin again. 

Maybe it’s Ozempic. Maybe it’s dieting. Maybe it’s both. 

With that being said, I want to discuss the elephant in the room – the body positive influencer to Ozempic pipeline.

Before I get into anything, let me make one thing clear: I am not and will not shame anyone for what they decide to do with their bodies. 

One of the things I talk about in The Body Liberation Project is that I fiercely believe in body autonomy, the right to make decisions over one’s own body. My own motto for myself is ‘My body. My business.”  And I’m clear in my book that it's not for me to judge what anyone decides to do with their bodies, especially for folks with multiple intersecting identities. 

However, I do encourage us all to curiously and compassionately interrogate our choices as it pertains to our bodies because we know that our ideas about bodies and what they should look like has been heavily influenced by cultural standards of beauty and white supremacy so how many decisions are even really making our own if we aren’t activity working to decolonize our minds?

So yes, the timeline and many body positive influencers are shrinking. 

But if we believe in body autonomy do we get to have feelings about what other people choose to do with their bodies?

I think two things can be true. We can fiercely believe in body autonomy and we can be disappointed or even angered that the folks we previously looked to for solidarity and even community are now chasing thinness again (often under the guise of ‘health’).

I don’t think there are any right or wrong answers here. But what I will say is that if folks created entire audiences on fat liberation and body positivity and garnered hundreds of thousands of followers on the concept of body acceptance, I think it’s normal to feel disappointed and to feel let down. To feel like you desire an explanation.

If I'm being honest, it’s odd to see people go from proudly showcasing their stomach fat to demonizing their previously “unhealthy behaviors” now that they’re thin again.

I was following a body positive influencer who recently announced they were doing 75 HARD (a 75 day weight loss challenge for those unfamiliar), and for a moment, I felt infuriated. How could a person who previously talked about body acceptance suddenly be promoting and journalizing their weight loss journey? It wasn’t just the fact that they decided to go on a weight loss journey because ultimately, that’s their choice. It was the fact that they decided to journal it for their hundreds of thousands of followers who were likely following them for their body acceptance content without regard for how this might be triggering or harmful to their followers who likely have struggled with body image issues, disordered eating, or yo-yo dieting at some point. 

It begs the question. Were these body positive influencers simply embracing their size because they thought they were destined to always be in a larger body?

But with access to GLP-1s, a magic shot that promises access to thinness for everyone, are folks abandoning body positivity because they actually always desired to be thin but didn’t think it was possible for them?

It’s one thing to lean into body positivity because you assumed you were always destined to be in a larger body, but it’s an entirely different reality to suddenly be able to be thin.

This is why it’s so important to continually unpack our own internalized fatphobia. Because regardless of size, we can all hold internalized weight stigma. Being accepting of folks in larger bodies or even believing everyone deserves to be treated equitably doesn’t absolve us from fatphobia. Checking our internalizing fatphobia, begs the question, “How would I personally feel if I woke up in a fat body?” It asks, “If I had a magic wand, would I choose not to be fat anymore?” 

Weight stigma and the disparate treatment of folks in larger bodies makes it challenging to exist in this world so there’s no reason to feel any shame regarding how you answered those questions. Because unfortunately, it is easier to exist in the world as a thin person. However, the answers may show us that perhaps we do still have some internalized fatphobia to unpack. 

I often say that white supremacy and diet culture are the air we breathe. As such, we always have to be unlearning. The same goes for weight stigma. We all have work to do – myself included. 

Alternatively, it’s also possible that folks were capitalizing off body positivity when it was trendy and popular but now that thin is in again, it’s not so profitable. 

But here’s the thing: our bodies are not trends. 

As I discuss in my book, mainstream body positivity is shortsighted. It’s been inundated with people showcasing a bit of belly fat or some cellulite or stretch marks. It’s not rooted in social justice and it’s highly focused on self love and individualism. The body positivity movement was started by fat Black and Brown women, and it wasn’t a movement focused on loving your body. It was about demanding justice for all bodies, especially the most marginalized. 

And this is also why I talk about collective liberation because when we root our desire for freedom only in our own personal desires, we easily lose sight of the larger cause. The end goal of body liberation is a world where every body is free to exist, free from harm, discrimination, and harassment. The goal is freedom for everyone, especially those with multiple intersecting identities. 

The goal is that all bodies have access – to healthcare, to clothing, to seating, to jobs, to dignity and respect. 

Collective liberation requires that we look outside of ourselves. It requires that we champion issues even if they don’t directly affect us, regardless of the ways in which our bodies change. 

So to see folks who previously championed body inclusivity and size inclusivity suddenly drop those topics all together and change the focus on their page, it leads me to believe that perhaps those topics only held importance in their lives when it affected them. And for me, that’s the danger in doing work which is not through the lens of collective liberation. 

And can I know for certain if many of these folks shrinking on our timelines are using Ozempic? Of course not, but the rise of GLP-1s seemed to correlate with seeing folks shrink so there’s likely some connection.

The collective messaging – starting way back from the NY Post article in November of 2022, which announced that ‘heroine chic is back’ – is that thin is in again. And unfortunately, it’s back with a vengeance, with fatphobia rearing its ugly head, more now than ever. 

For those of us who have dealt with eating disorders or disordered eating habits in pursuit of thinness, this can feel triggering, scary, and mentally and emotionally exhausting. 

I don’t have all the answers and certainly can’t fully dissect the topic within the confines of this post, but what I will say is that if you’re feeling triggered or frustrated or you feel your body image issues flaring back up, you’re not alone. 

The journey to body liberation is hard at times, especially times like now, but it’s still one of the most worthwhile endeavors we can ever pursue for ourselves. As we embrace liberation, we give ourselves true freedom in our bodies in all of its iterations, regardless of what’s the *IN* body.

And while we work through and towards that, my hope is that we can hold ourselves with compassion, kindness, and love.