Media and Research Roundup - August 2023
Image Description: A laptop, white coffee mug, and ruler are laid out on a white desk along with an open spiral notebook with a pen, paperclip, thumbtack, and binder clip on it.
By Bill and Terri Weitze
CONTENT WARNING: Some articles featured in the Media & Research Roundup may refer to stigmatizing events or use stigmatizing language.
July 2023: The AMA Journal of Ethics devotes an entire issue to overreliance on BMI (body mass index), a measure of relative weight. While this is from a fat=bad viewpoint, it’s good that the medical establishment is questioning its assumptions.
July 6, 2023: In Scotland, a supplier of a potentially fatal substance sold as a diet pill was sentenced to 37 months in jail.
Jul 15, 2023: Philadelphia will host the 1st ever Philly FatCon in October. The three women behind it want everyone to celebrate being unapologetically themselves.
July 18, 2023: Fat positive comedian Sofie Hagen discusses how venues can become more fat-friendly.
July 20, 2023: Finnish Artist Iiu Susiraja’s debut show in the US highlights the artist’s humorous and honest self-portraits.
July 20, 2023: This local news article (with video) discusses a bridal shop in upstate New York for fat brides.
July 21, 2023: This article discusses the pros and cons of the new category of weight loss drugs from a viewpoint that considers them miracle drugs with some drawbacks.
July 23, 2023: An opinion article in The Guardian asks the question: What if we let our kids eat what they want? The article is a reaction to the book Fat Talk: Parenting in the Age of Diet Culture by Virginia Sole-Smith, who discusses the real harm caused by fat hatred.
July 24, 2023: Being weighed can harm some patients’ mental health according to this University of Missouri study (press release is here).
July 24, 2023: The side effects of drugs such as Ozempic or Wegovy are starting to cause alarm in those who took them for weight loss.
August 2023: Lori Don Levan and Stefanie Snider guest edit the latest issue of Fat Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Body Weight and Society on "Representing Fatness Through Critical and Artistic Practice", now available online.
August 9, 2023: A plus sized woman who has finished 26 marathons is mentoring high school girls of all sizes with the same passion for running.
Pic is of Terri and Bill Weitze, a Caucasian couple, both wearing glasses
Terri and Bill Weitze have been active within NAAFA for years, and they currently coauthor the Media and Research Roundup in the NAAFA Newsletter. They both live and work in Michigan, and met through a fat-positive bulletin board system before the days of the World Wide Web.