Media and Research Roundup - February 2022
Graphic shows a picture of “Don’t Weigh Me” cards, an issue of Seventeen Magazine, and a call for papers for the Fat Studies Conference.
By Bill and Terri Weitze
CW: Some discussion of the pervasiveness of the "ideal body" in teen magazines, fat myths, racism and colonialism.
For the latest information and research on fatness, check out the Media Research Roundup. This issue features: how far we have gone and how far we need to go to change the pervasiveness of the "ideal body" in teen magazines, don't weight me cards, body neutrality, and more!
May 23, 2021: A Culture Study article talks about the pervasiveness of the "ideal body" in teen magazines, how fat liberation has helped change this, and how much still stays unchanged.
https://annehelen.substack.com/p/the-millennial-vernacular-of-fatphobia
January 17, 2022: All Fired Up podcast talks with Ragen Chastain, who discusses fat related myths, focusing on the idea that a 5-10% weight loss alone significantly changes a fat person's health.
https://untrapped.libsyn.com/5-10-weight-loss-is-good-for-your-health-other-bs-with-ragen-chastain
January 28, 2022: More-love.org sells cards for patients who prefer not to be weighed when visiting the doctor and cards for parents who don't want their children to hear discussions about weight. The cards may help avoid triggering moments and shift focus away from weight.
https://www.self.com/story/dont-weigh-me-cards/amp
January 31, 2022: Taking focus away from the body's appearance and respecting what each body can do makes body neutrality a powerful tool to fight fat bias, as body neutrality becomes an alternative for body positivity, which is being co-opted by the wellness industry.
https://mashable.com/article/how-to-practice-body-neutrality
February 1, 2022: Athia N. Choudhury traces the roots of thin-rage, especially as to fat black bodies, back to historical power, whiteness, and coloniality.
http://foodfatnessfitness.com/2022/02/01/thin-rage-and-racialized-fat
February 1, 2022: Fat Studies invites submission of papers for consideration its July 2022 conference Fat Studies: Rights, Personhood, Disposability. Abstract submission deadline is March 1, 2022.
http://tinyurl.com/fsnz22cfp
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 San Jose, CA, and met through a fat-positive bulletin board system before the days of the World Wide Web.
