Ro<\/a>, a telehealth provider that specializes in GLP-1 weight loss medications like Ozempic, Wegovy and Zepbound. In the now ubiquitous commercials, Williams tells how she personally used the drug to burn stubborn postpartum fat, a respectable 31 pounds over 8 months.<\/p>\n\u201cIt\u2019s not a short cut, it\u2019s science,\u201d reads the company\u2019s tagline. <\/p>\n
Williams looks great \u2013 of course, of course. But just because scientists have discovered a cure for fatness doesn\u2019t mean she still hasn\u2019t taken the easy way out. The traditional method is equally scientific: eat less, burn more calories than you consume and you\u2019ll healthily lose the weight. <\/p>\n
After all, it\u2019s not like these medications don\u2019t have side effects. Potential complications are too long to list, but include everything from thyroid tumors and pancreatitis to run of the mill gastro distress. With the rush to market, long-term side effects still aren\u2019t fully known, but you may wind up with shrunken heart muscles in addition to a flatter belly. <\/p>\n
Sure, Williams had kids; life changes, hormones get whacky, and I\u2019m sympathetic to the struggle \u2013 but that still doesn\u2019t change the basics of human anatomy. If the queen of tennis can no longer nail diet and exercise 101, then us mortals have little hope. <\/p>\n
Yet there\u2019s a more cynical explanation as well. <\/p>\n
The central implication of the campaign is that we\u2019re living under a new normal, and it aims to use the Williams name, synonymous with athletic excellence, to neutralize any vestigial stigma while expanding its market. <\/p>\n
\u201cSerena\u2019s on Ro. Are you next?\u201d the front page of the website somewhat exploitatively asks. <\/p>\n
Cui bono? A host of pharmaceutical companies, of course, but also Williams\u2019 own husband, Reddit billionaire Alexis Ohanian, an early investor and board member of Ro. The couple obviously don\u2019t need the money \u2013 but that still doesn\u2019t necessarily preclude a little quid pro quo. <\/p>\n
Still, I guess it\u2019s better than the body positivity movement; being gratuitously obese has negative health effects as well, on top of the aesthetic indignity we\u2019re all forced to publicly witness. But is there even really a stigma surrounding GLP-1\u2019s, or is this yet another example of America\u2019s self-legitimizing obsession with victimhood? <\/p>\n
The campaign does more than simply normalize Ro, it offers a hit of moral superiority to the patient for supposedly being stigmatized in using it: \u201cbe brave, be like Serena,\u201d it implies, and \u201cbuy our product.\u201d And if anyone criticizes you? Well, they\u2019re a bully \u2013 and we all know who we\u2019re meant to fawningly praise in the battle between victim and oppressor. <\/p>\n
But that seems more like wishful thinking. These weight loss drugs are like seeing a fat person jog in the park. Sure, you might snicker privately to yourself at the spectacle. But deep down, as well as in mixed company, you\u2019ll earnestly commend them for taking the necessary steps for self-improvement. <\/p>\n
For better or worse, Ro and companies like it are simply the new jogging. We have, in fact, scientifically surpassed diet and exercise. And there\u2019s no stigma in that. <\/p>\n
When the automobile replaced the horse and buggy, we didn\u2019t shun those who sped ahead in their shiny new Ford. This is small-p progress, detached from any political connotation, and is a net boon for McAmerica. <\/p>\n
Over 40 percent of Americans are obese according to government data, with an additional 30 percent being generally overweight. These are just averages, and the figures get worse \u2013 much worse \u2013 in certain demographics. You can shout about the value of diet and exercise until you\u2019re blue in the face, but these stats have been increasing since the 1970s. No one\u2019s going to listen. <\/p>\n
In a choice between chronic, widespread and ultimately lethal obesity and potential pharmaceutical side effects, I choose the one I don\u2019t have to look bulbously sweaty in the gym. So I\u2019m pro-zempic, if you will; everyone who needs the extra motivation should enthusiastically take it. Hell, I\u2019d rather see the feds subsidize weight loss drugs than junk food. <\/p>\n
Yet a lack of stigma doesn\u2019t mean there\u2019s no room for personal conscience. I don\u2019t believe for a second that someone with the will power and physicality of Serena Williams needs a chemical crutch to lose weight, alongside millions of other relatively healthy people who would rather take a shot than put in a little bit of effort. <\/p>\n
Anyone can get in shape at any time \u2013 but you only have yourself to blame for waiting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Serena Williams is one of the world\u2019s greatest living athletes, but in her retirement, she seems to have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":156658,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[249,250,6542,99,428,8230],"class_list":{"0":"post-156657","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-ozempic","9":"tag-reddit","10":"tag-serena-williams","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-tennis","13":"tag-wegovy"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156657","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=156657"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156657\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/156658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=156657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=156657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=156657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}