Something unsettling is happening. It feels like we’re slipping back into the dark days of the '90s—the era of Special K diets, heroin chic, and an unhealthy obsession with women being as thin as possible. But this time, it’s cloaked in the language of wellness and medicine.Enter the Ozempic craze.My heart aches when I see what’s unfolding. TV screens, magazines, and social media feeds are once again filled with ‘before and after’ shots—women who’ve drastically shrunk themselves, held up as symbols of success and beauty. Every time I go online, I’m bombarded with ads for ‘medical weight loss’. A new wave of toxic messaging, dressed up in clinical language.I thought we had moved on. I thought we had come further than this. I thought that we had learned how harmful body-shaming can be to women, and that we were in an era of encouraging women to love themselves with all their imperfections, curves, stretch marks, and wobbly bits. Exactly as they are.&nbsp;But clearly, the idea that thin = beautiful still lingers deeply in the collective psyche of women. And it tells me one painful truth:We still haven’t learned to take up space. We haven’t learned to be comfortable in our own skin. We have not learned that it is more important for our feminine bodies to be strong and healthy than a certain shape or size.&nbsp;We’re still at war with ourselves—and our bodies are caught in the crossfire.If you look back through recent decades, as women have become financially and sexually empowered, the patriarchal system has tried another tactic - psychological warfare. If it couldn’t control us directly, it would do so indirectly by controlling our minds, by making us doubt ourselves, hate ourselves, and spend all our time (and money!) wondering how we can make ourselves&nbsp; ‘good enough’.&nbsp;But know this: our patriarchal society thrives when women are tired, frail, hungry, and weak. It thrives when we’re too distracted by self-loathing to rise into our full power. When women are obsessed with shrinking ourselves, we’re not questioning systems, challenging injustice, or showing up with confidence in our communities, our careers, or our relationships.So let me say this clearly: Resisting the obsession with thinness is an act of rebellion. Choosing to nourish, strengthen, and care for your body—on your terms—is a radical act of self-love.And I am choosing rebellion. I am disobeying this silent order to be thin and fragile. I choose health. I choose strength. I choose vitality.The truth is: healthy, vibrant, energetic women are a threat to the status quo. We disrupt the narrative that says women should be small, silent, weak and invisible.However - I do have to be honest. I am not immune to this psychological attack, and I admit I have struggled with ‘getting bigger’ since Covid. There were definitely times I would have considered a magic pill (or injection!) to shrink my belly and my hips. But instead, I attuned to my self-worth and educated myself about women’s biological differences and our needs as we get older. I found out about the importance of building muscle for our hormones, our metabolism, and our&nbsp;joint health. And I began to lift weights instead. I stopped saying ‘I need to lose weight’ and started saying ‘I need to build muscle’.Muscle is our body’s metabolic engine. It’s not about doing tons of cardio and counting calories. It’s about building strength from within.And honestly, lifting weights has been the most empowering form of exercise I have ever done!! I am yet to see a shift on the scales, but I genuinely don’t care because I feel so damn good! I’m sleeping better, eating better, my mood is better, I have more energy, less pain, and most importantly I feel strong and powerful.This is what our bodies were made for. Not to be starved, punished, or moulded into someone else’s idea of perfection — but to thrive, to feel alive, to carry us through life with resilience and energy.So to every woman reading this: please don’t give in.You are not here to disappear. You are here to rise, to take up space, to reclaim your power—one strong step at a time.<blockquote>And if you want to join a community of strong, powerful, rising Muslim women - spiritually, emotionally, and physically - come join the WeRise Collective!</blockquote>

Is the Ozempic weight-loss craze bringing back harmful 90s diet culture? I urge women to resist the order to be thin, and decide to be strong instead!

Disappearing Women: The Ozempic Craze

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Disappearing Women: The Ozempic Craze

Disappearing Women: The Ozempic Craze

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