Weight-Loss Drugs and the Supremacy of Thinness

Occasionally there comes a news story so on the nose, so illustrative of the characteristic excesses and inequalities of our age, that it would be too inelegant an allegory for JG Ballard. It has been almost two years since I began following the story of semaglutide drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy, when they first began to be spoken about not as the diabetes treatment they were originally conceived of, but as a new weight-loss wonder-fix available only to the super-elite. Over those two years, these drugs have filtered into mainstream consciousness. Already, those prescribed them for diabetes have complained that the boom in demand has impacted their ability to access necessary healthcare, not merely a means to a certain aesthetic.