Lizzo Slams Influencers Who Abandoned Plus-Size Movement: 'Where'd All Our Big Girls Go?'

Lizzo is speaking out about what she perceives to be an increasing erasure of plus-size women within the body positivity movement, in the wake of her own two-year "weight release" journey, which she has detailed in a recent Substack essay.

The Grammy-winning artist said she is troubled by how shifting beauty standards-and the widespread popularity of weight-loss drugs-are reshaping the space that once uplifted marginalized bodies.

The report by AllHipHop refers to how Lizzo's musings are partly a result of her own personal growth and observations of the cultural shift in conversation about body image.

In the essay, Lizzo said she weighs 200 pounds today-a number she stated as part of a larger message about self-acceptance and visibility. In which she also spoke to why the movement feels different today: "Just like that, it became branded for everyone.

Unfortunately, once something becomes for everyone, the people that it was originally created for are edged out. It's no longer for us anymore."

She continued with her critiquing of the shifting landscape, noting the social media spaces that centered plus-size bodies are now looking drastically different.

She continued, "It's no longer for the size 16 and up community. It's no longer for the disabled plus-sized community. It's no longer for the queer, indigenous, plus-sized community. I would look up the body positivity hashtag and I would see size eight, straight, white women dominating the category."

According to Business Insider, Lizzo has also contended that bigger clothing sizes seem to be vanishing from major online retailers and plus-size models are increasingly being excluded from campaigns.

She attributed these developments to the recent booming popularity of GLP-1 drugs such as Ozempic, a trend which has been widely reported as influencing beauty standards and weight-loss expectations.

She wrote, "I am still a proud big girl. Objectively Big. Over 200 pounds. And I love myself as much as I've loved myself, no matter what the scale says."

Lizzo also touched on frustrations within the movement, pointing out how some individuals used body positivity for personal gain and then abandoned it. She wrote, "There may be some bad actors amongst us... We have a lot of work to do, to undo the effects of the Ozempic boom."

She concluded her essay with a pledge to help restore the movement's integrity. She wrote, "I have a lot of work to do to regain the trust of the movement that gave me wings... Because movements move."

This essay was originally published on Substack on April 21.