If you live in a major urban area, chances are you’ve seen one of those huge ads for Ozempic, a semaglutide drug originally intended to help diabetics. It has been recently touted and advertised for its side effect: weight loss. If you live south of our border, you’ve heard the jingle and have probably had a certain 1974 song stuck in your head at least once (“oh, oh, oh, it’s magic”). Well, beyond needing a warning for the too-catchy ad, some scholars are warning about the dangers of the promise of “a fat-free future.”

Today, in The Conversation Canada, critical disability studies scholar Fady Shanouda and gender studies scholar Michael Orsini explain why we need to be on high alert when it comes to using semaglutide for weight loss. The messaging around Ozempic being a miracle cure is unsustainable and has kicked up a new level of fat phobia, they argue.

It’s a fascinating read and I highly encourage you to get into it. You can also catch Shanouda on the summer Don’t Call Me Resilient episode on how the widespread use of semaglutide drugs may change how we view fatness.

Also today:

All the best, 

Vinita Srivastava

Host + Producer, Don't Call Me Resilient | Senior Editor, Culture + Society

Following news of Ozempic’s ability to help its users lose weight, it did not take long for fat-haters to surface. (Justin Katigbak/Disabled And Here)

Ozempic, the ‘miracle drug,’ and the harmful idea of a future without fat

Fady Shanouda, Carleton University; Michael Orsini, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa

The messaging around Ozempic being a miracle cure is not only a lie, it has kicked up a new level of fatphobia.

Tourists walk past the Olympic rings in front of Paris City Hall with one year until the Paris 2024 Olympic Games opening ceremony, on July 26, 2023. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

Gender inequality will still be an issue at the Paris 2024 Olympics — despite the Games being gender-balanced

Michele K. Donnelly, Brock University

The IOC needs to look beyond gender parity and work with international federations to address athletes’ conditions of participation in sports to achieve true gender equality.

We are facing a crisis on a planetary scale and it requires immediate political, social and economic action. (Shutterstock)

A new approach to environmental, social and governance policies is needed before it’s too late

Daniel Tsai, University of Toronto; Peer Zumbansen, McGill University

Governments and corporations must work together to transform environmental, social and governance policies.

La Conversation Canada

La sécurité dans les aéroports a drastiquement changé après les attentats terroristes du 11 septembre 2001 aux États-Unis. (Shutterstock)

Voici pourquoi il faut retirer son ordinateur portable de son sac lors du contrôle de sécurité à l’aéroport

Doug Drury, CQUniversity Australia

Dans certains pays, il n’est plus nécessaire d’enlever ses chaussures pour passer les contrôles de sécurité. Mais la plupart du temps, il est encore nécessaire d’enlever son ordinateur portable.

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