Rescripted

Women's Health, Your Way

Ask & Search With Clara

Welcome to a new standard for women's health answers.

GIRLHOOD / GLP-1s Will Get You a Job and a Boyfriend, Says Science (...

GLP-1s Will Get You a Job and a Boyfriend, Says Science (We Already Knew That)

GLP-1s Will Get You a Job and a Boyfriend, Says Science (We Already Knew That)

In the most recent GLP-1 news, a new study out of Harvard found that women are more likely to land a job and find a partner while on the drugs — because of course they are.

I don't say that to be snarky, more that weight has never really been just a health thing for women. It's always doubled as currency, whether we wanted it to or not, and now there's a paper with Harvard's name on it more or less proving it.

Economist Rebecca Diamond tracked thousands of women through the Understanding America Study and found that single women starting a GLP-1 for weight loss were 29 percentage points more likely to be married or living with a partner within a year and a half, and women who weren't working when they started were 27 points more likely to be employed by then. Call it confidence, or call it exactly what Diamond's paper is called: "the female obesity penalty."

But what didn't change is the part that's hard to shake: already-partnered women got no upgrade, already-employed women got no raises, and none of them got healthier. Self-reported health, depression, and loneliness barely moved. The shift wasn't internal; it was other people, deciding differently, the moment there was less of her to see.

Which makes me wonder, do you have to be Ariana Grande for people to notice there's a problem here? Her body has become its own headline, and we're told not to comment on women's bodies until you're actually worried about one.

This study didn't tell us anything new — it just proved we were never being paranoid.

More from GIRLHOOD

When I was a teenager, my period would disappear for months at a time, and the fix was a prescription for the pill “to regulate my cycle.” Nobody asked what... Read more

Your Feelings Aren’t Valid

I saw a reel this week that said something I’ve been waiting for someone to say out loud: your feelings are valid because you’re having them, but that doesn’t always... Read more
This summer, I read Pride & Prejudice for the first time (I know), and declared Mr. Darcy the ultimate example of “if he wanted to, he would.” Now, I’m reading... Read more
Last week, I wrote about what I wish I’d asked my doctor during my first pregnancy. By my second pregnancy (with my third baby), I finally asked them.With the twins,... Read more
If you were a teenager in the early 2000s, you probably remember the smell of Maui Babe. I slathered it on at Rockaway Beach every summer with the confidence of... Read more
Speaking of chronic illness, can we talk about misdiagnosis for a minute?In women’s health, everyone’s (rightly) up in arms about how long it takes to get a diagnosis. Across 770... Read more
I spent last weekend in Charleston with my mom and sister, wandering cobblestone streets and weaving in and out of shops hunting down pieces for my 70s Halloween costume. I... Read more
I’m in NYC at a conference today, and when I told the woman sitting next to me at lunch about Rescripted, she immediately launched into her own health story. I... Read more
I was driving to get coffee with my husband the other day when he turned to me, completely out of nowhere, and said, “Why am I always tired?”I almost laughed,... Read more
I have this problem in motherhood, and it's called grieving-the-moment-while-it's-still-happening.I'm not sure if other moms can relate, but last weekend I took my daughter to see Wicked on Broadway, and... Read more