The new jab has been experimented on people who are overweight, whilst eating a healthy diet and exercising. The study produced effects which meant that the patients lost an average of two stone. Following the results, experts have said that the jab should be made available through the NHS.
The NHS is already struggling with providing basic treatment and appointments from the pandemic alone. By adding this new strain of a financial burden on the NHS, this will disproportionally affect the services that the they are already struggling to provide – let alone increase the referrals to NHS clinics for mental health.
The idea that obese people need to lose weight is rooted in diet culture. New technologies that ‘help' people lose this weight, is rooted in society’s fear of being fat. The fat phobic message that this sends out will intensify people’s anxieties about looking a certain way – in order to appeal to society and the media’s representation of “healthy/beautiful” etc.
The jab will essentially inflate the anxieties that magazines and companies uphold surrounding body image, leading to damaging effects on mental health cases and serious cases of malnutrition.
Teenagers and adults are increasingly being affected by a rise in eating disorders every year. The jab will essentially inflate the anxieties that magazines and companies uphold surrounding body image, leading to damaging effects on mental health cases and serious cases of malnutrition. The NHS is already struggling to overcome the influx of mental health patients because of the pandemic; can it really handle the effects of this new jab?
The fat phobic message also does much to discriminate against the BAME community and is linked to the oppression of women – especially black women. Not only will this increase the stigma surrounding weight, but having it available through the NHS will perpetuate the narrative of those who are overweight are lazy and won’t do anything about it.
This new jab then, also discriminates against people who are overweight through a medical condition, i.e., slow thyroid, high blood pressure etc. This will, again, perpetuate the narrative that being overweight is a choice, if this jab becomes available.
It is really important then to deconstruct the stigma surrounding weight and obesity, rather than exacerbate the problem with a nationally funded tool to get rid of a problem that was invented by diet culture.
Disclaimer: this article is not intended to give any medical or diet advice and it contains personal opinions. Health comes in different sizes and shapes and if you think you are suffering from eating disorders we advice you to contact a specialist.
