‘Body positivity movement’ normalising weight gain, Labor MP Dr Michelle Ananda-Rajah says

Australia’s “body positivity movement” is normalising weight gain which can cause dangerous health and fertility issues for women, a Victorian Labor MP says.

The number of women turning to controversial drugs to shed the kilos is rising.

The “body positivity movement” is normalising weight gain, leading to a surge in overweight women with “cascading” health problems, a Victorian Labor MP says.

And it could result in fertility issues and other health complications, with the number of women turning to controversial drugs to shed the kilos – including diabetes medication Ozempic – rapidly increasing.

Higgins MP Dr Michelle Ananda-Rajah flagged her concerns about the social movement during a parliamentary inquiry into diabetes on Thursday.

“There’s a body positivity movement, right, that has emerged,” she said.

“My concern as a health professional is that … it’s normalising weight gain in young women and then this can lead to cascading problems, particularly when they become pregnant, and they gain weight during that pregnancy and then they’re unable to shift that weight and that just leads to other problems later in life.

“I want to ensure women are in peak mental and physical health in their child-bearing years, as this has implications for maternal and child health, especially with respect to diabetes.”

Anthony Albanese with Dr Michelle Ananda-Rajah at a polling station on election day 2022. Picture: AFP

But Butterfly Foundation spokeswoman Melissa Wilton said the movement was about the acceptance of all types of bodies regardless of their shape, weight, size, or colour, and a rejection of narrowly defined measures of health such as Body Mass Index (BMI).

“The movement is important as many people with lived experience of both diabetes and eating disorders have told us that the stereotypical narrow focus on weight as a measure of health has meant they have not received compassionate and adequate care and that their health issues were often overlooked,” Ms Wilton said.

The body positivity movement has gained momentum in Australia, with body-image campaigner Taryn Brumfitt being crowned the 2023 Australian of the Year.

Monash University Prof Helen Skouteris said a lot of camps had different approaches to body positivity but were “not coming together to help young people”.

Prof Skouteris said the body image work she was leading was “not about encouraging weight gain” but about “supporting those living in bigger bodies” in a way that was respectful and didn’t increase stigma.

Melbourne endocrinologist Dr Sarah Price said 50 per cent of female patients at the Royal Melbourne Hospital were overweight or obese, and many at pregnancy planning clinics were taking drugs such as Ozempic so they could undertake IVF.

Dr Ananda-Rajah said she wants to ensure women are in peak health in their child-bearing years. Picture: Gary Ramage

Dr Price said this was because “many women” they see had a body mass index (BMI) over 40 – morbid obesity – and were unable to undergo treatment because they had an increased risk of complications.

She said the drugs helped people lose weight when other therapies such as bariatric surgery were not suitable.

“The reality is women are using these drugs, huge numbers at the moment,” Dr Price said.

“I work in a clinic which is seeing people prior to IVF who have got medical issues, metabolic issues, that are stopping them moving forward with IVF.

“Similarly, people … if they’re trying to move forward with surgery, use these agents so that they can get their knee replacement.

“GLP-1s are used because these women are trying to achieve weight loss for a goal.”

But Ms Wilton said these medications could be “very dangerous”, as they could potentially trigger an eating disorder or worsen symptoms for someone who is already unwell.

“Eating disorders affect people of all weights, BMIs, ages, genders and backgrounds, and you can never tell if someone is unwell just by measuring their weight, so it is vital that doctors do a thorough consultation and look out for signs of an eating disorder before prescribing potentially harmful medications,” she said.

Asked about the body positivity movement, Dr Price said: “I think we should be reframing obesity as a biological disease and a disorder of appetite regulation.”

“The lesson, I think, we should have learned out of these drugs is that weight loss happens when people have more normalised appetite regulation,” she said.

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