The Weigh In: Lindsay Peoples on why fashion never made space for size inclusivity

 What does it mean to live in your body in a world that has a lot to say about it? What happens when the thing you've been fighting for your whole life suddenly feels possible thanks to new GLP-1 medications? What are we supposed to do about a culture that shamed us for being fat and now shames us for how we got thinner?

These are the kinds of real, honest questions — and much more about weight, health, and GLP-1s — you’ll find being discussed on The Weigh In, a new weekly podcast from Weight Watchers. It’s hosted by Samhita Mukhopadhyay, a journalist, author, and head of content at Weight Watchers. 

Every week, Mukhopadhyay hosts a new guest to get into the feelings, the science, the common side effects, the body politics, the unexpected identity shifts, and the changing relationships with partners, friends, family, and with yourself. Of course, it’s not intended as medical advice; it’s more about the honest conversations about GLP-1s that we’re not hearing anywhere else. (As always, talk to your doctor for questions about your health.)

The first episode is a discussion with Lindsay Peoples, the award-winning editor-in-chief of The Cut, co-founder of the Black in Fashion Council, and former editor-in-chief of Teen Vogue. She weighs in on how the media covers body image and the ever-changing public discourse about weight and GLP-1s, including her insider view of how the fashion industry was “never really invested in size inclusivity.” Watch the full conversation, listen in on your preferred podcast platform, or read the highlights from Peoples below.

“There's a sense of bravery and courage in the assignment, in the point of view, and that the writer had to put themselves out there. We started to assign a lot of reporters around it years ago because it was very hush-hush, and I think that it only further proves my point and why we're writing about it so much: because there's so much shame and judgment and misinformation. For The Cut reader, I'm always interested in: What is that social texture? How has it changed your family dynamics? How is it changing your friendships? How is it changing the way that you view yourself, or the way that you see yourself show up in work and life and parenting and partnership and all of that? It’s more about the interior.”

“There was a lot of power in you being honest with so many people who follow you. People love to idolize, but then they like to also drag people down once they do something that they don't like. Or they're like, ‘Oh, I thought you would never do this.’ It was an opportunity for you to hold two truths at the same time and say, ‘I am this incredible feminist icon who has talked at length about body positivity, and yet and still, I want to take care of my body in a way that doesn't need to be defended by anyone.’ For all of the talk that we are so pro-everything, there is still a lot of policing women's bodies and wanting to tell you how you should feel about your body and everyone else’s bodies.”

“There is a real lack of empathy and a nastiness. It’s not helpful, because women already have it hard enough. Why not understand that? You may not agree with the way that it's being used. But I think there’s something deeper going on.

When I hear a lot of fashion people talk about it, the pinnacle [of life] for them is being wealthy, white, and thin. And if a lot of people are thin, it's like, ‘Wait, then, how do I get to signal that I'm more important or better?’ It's obviously shallow and vain and problematic. Angelina Chapin wrote a really good piece on how this has really increased this era of emaciation, where we're normalizing being able to see [celebrity] women's bones. That was something we at least thought was left back in the heroin-chic era.

People love to cover the celebrity obsession with GLP-1s, not conversations about it being a medical intervention. It’s rooted in the celebrity thinness, pop-culture angle without understanding that obesity is a real disease to be taken seriously and [this medication] as a way to actually help people, instead of just shaming them.”

“I'm tired of the struggle Olympics. I'm also tired of people cosplaying a struggle of something that is rooted in racism and so many other things. I've heard people say that it's making things too equal, and it's like — what do you consider to be an advantage over another person? Why do you need that to feel valuable?”

“The size-inclusive moment was short-lived. Brands say they’re size-inclusive, but that really means online-only or it already sold out because we only made two. I just don't think there ever really was an investment in being size-inclusive. I want everyone to be able to wear something that's actually to their taste and that they’re excited about wearing it, and not just what's available to you [because it comes in your size]. It's a lack of options.

I can tell when I'm at a [fashion] show and a designer loves to address a woman's body — or not. When you are treating it like, ‘This is a hanger.’ Sometimes I am looking at a dress and I'm like, ‘You've never talked to a woman who has told you about their luteal phase. They don't want to wear something like that.’ The industry itself has struggled so much to actually evolve. I don't think that designers were ever really invested in body positivity. There's always been a handful of designers that are really inclusive. Overall, though, people are over-exaggerating that there was such a shift and change. We barely dipped the toe into size inclusivity. I never saw much progress. Yet I have pushed so much and will always continue to push for size inclusivity, no matter what the industry is doing, because I am pro-women being whatever size and whatever shape.”

“As a Black girl in the midwest suburbs, my version of skinny was very different than ‘white people in fashion’ skinny. The culture differences were really stark for me, and I felt like I was jolted into a different universe.

It’s nice now as I've gotten older, because I don't care as much what other people think. Now I'm strong and I love that. I love pushing around a tire.”

“Even now there's so much pressure to be a certain kind of person. There's still so few Black women in the industry. I didn't have the money to be able to wear the [‘right’] clothes, and that was so much of a way to get your foot in the door because it signaled that you understand taste because you were able to afford said outfit. I want so badly for other young women coming into the industry to not feel like a title makes you — because it doesn't.

What I see a lot of in fashion is that people really want a replica. But when I'm hiring, you need to have individuality. I don't want carbon copies of other people. What's most exciting to me is a team with so much diversity in opinion, thought, race, and sexuality. You get us all in a room and it is so lively because everyone is so different.

It's been important for me for work to not be everything. I also spend a lot of time with women who are committed to what we in our friend group call ‘joy building.’"