The body positive movement is dead and super-skinny is back. Yawn. I know, it’s been written about a million times and covered endlessly on TikTok and Instagram, the hot takes linking skinny to fascism and right-wing cultural regression (or maybe that’s just my algorithm), but I’m still pissed off! Just when we thought we were making progress and genuinely widening beauty standards, we’re sliding right back.

Everyone’s heard of Ozempic, Mounjaro, and other appetite-suppressing injections. Once used to treat diabetes, they’ve now been rebranded and repurposed for weight loss… and they’re everywhere. It seems everyone knows someone taking them. These drugs are rapidly becoming the go-to tool for achieving an ultra-thin look that feels familiar.

But where does this obsession fit in the world we thought we were building? The 2010s body positivity movement, where mid and plus-sized models graced magazine covers, where “love your body” echoed across social media, where diversity in beauty was finally happening. Gone.

Sadly, this all falls into line with fashion. Low-rise jeans are back, clothes are cut for slimmer bodies, and celebrities once praised for embracing curves are now much smaller (think Kardashian). We’ve entered into a full-blown reversion to the 90s “heroin chic” era, only this time, it’s dressed up as medical.

Let’s be clear: there’s nothing wrong with being slim. There’s also nothing wrong with being anything other than thin. But should we really be glorifying a body standard that, without a prescription, could only be achieved so rapidly via an eating disorder? Should we really let this trend pass as wellness and stamping out an ‘obesity crises’ when it’s clearly just another marketed trend.

To me, ‘the return of skinny’ just proves how shallow the body positivity movement was. It appeared as progress, but it didn’t go deep enough. It didn’t undo the idea that our bodies are something to market, to sell and to fix. That is exactly what’s happening now.

Fashion, wellness, and the pharmaceutical industry have rebranded old diet culture and sold it back to us as empowerment. They’ve told us that smaller = better again, and it seems everyone is listening. Is it such a crazy idea that maybe not starving yourself while you inject yourself with drugs maybe isn't the healthiest idea, however FDA approved it is.

To me, this isn’t just about Ozempic. It’s about watching a new generation of girls internalise the idea that their worth lies in what dress size they fit into. It’s about seeing medical interventions used to meet an aesthetic ideal that shifts with the fashion cycle. It’s about the sick feeling of déjà vu when “thinspiration” content starts trending all over again, this time with a glossy pharmaceutical wellness veil on top.

I felt we had achieved so much as a society when plus and mid sized women were ‘allowed’ to exist as they are. Now I see it was just another trend. With me and my peers having spent much of my our teenage years desperately trying to cover up our (pretty non-existant) stomachs, I really felt the body positive movement helped us to become just that- body positive. I dread to think what teenage girls of this decade are going to go through. How many teenagers will we loose to anorexia as a result of this?

And look, if you’re taking these drugs and it helps you feel better in your body, I wholeheartedly support you. But let’s not pretend this is a health revolution, we have to name what is happening. It's a trend, and of course, it's not the first. From the hourglass curves of the 50s, to heroin chic in the 90s, to the ‘body positive’ era of the 2010s, the ideal female body has never stayed still. Instead, it changes like a seasonal fashion collection. Our bodies are treated like clothes to swap out, discard, or force into new shapes depending on what’s popular. These drugs didn’t just go viral because people wanted to feel better. They went viral because thinness is trending again, and capitalism knows exactly how to profit from that.

Let’s not ignore the cost. We don't deserve to have our bodies dictated by fashion seasons and marketable trends. We’ve been here countless times before, and we shouldn’t go back. If the body positivity movement taught us anything, it’s that our bodies are not a canvas for trends. They are not disposable, changeable, or marketable based on whatever shape is fashionable this decade. We shouldn’t have to remould ourselves every few years to keep up, and we shouldn’t have to battle for the right to just exist as we are.

Written by Eleanor Crowe

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elorrellcrowe/

Instagram: @ellieecrowe

Opinion: The Body Positive Movement is Dead

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