Media and Research Roundup: December 2020
Image of a researcher’s hand in a blue glove holding a vial in a laboratory. Source: Science in HD from Usplach.
CONTENT WARNING: Some articles featured in the Media and Research Roundup may refer to stigmatizing events or use stigmatizing language.
September 23, 2020: Dr. Akshay B. Jain discusses comments on his commentary on obesity for Medscape and why they reflect notions about fatness that are overly simplistic or just plain wrong.
https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/937603
October 17, 2020: A study presented at the International Bladder Cancer Network finds that fat people with non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer have improved response to a type of immunotherapy than non-fat patients.
https://www.urotoday.com/conference-highlights/ibcn-2020/125274-ibcn-2020-correlation-between-bmi-diabetes-mellitus-and-outcomes-in-patients-treated-with-bcg-immunotherapy-for-non-muscle-invasive-bladder-cancer.html
October 19, 2020: Fat Besties, a fat acceptance and body liberation group from Vancouver Island, sends an open letter regarding Canada's new Obesity Clinical Practice Guidelines, objecting to the exclusion of fat voices in the creation of the guidelines, as well as policies and practices that reinforce fatphobia in the healthcare industry.
https://www.fatbesties.ca/blog/open-letter-re-obesity-canada
October 20, 2020: A new study finds that people with higher BMI (overweight and obese) have better outcomes in acute coronary syndrome; over a BMI of 40 the benefit fell off, but those patients still did better than the underweight and "healthy" BMI ranges.
https://www.cardiovascularbusiness.com/topics/acute-coronary-syndrome/obesity-paradox-acs-outcomes-underweight-patients
https://thisfatoldlady.com/2020/10/24/this-fat-old-ladys-fat-friday-fat-evolutionary-benefit-syndrome
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amjcard.2020.09.059
October 22, 2020: Ragen Chastain, writing for The Mighty, points out that you can't blame body size for health outcomes if access to healthcare for body sizes is unequal, and lists five ways weight stigma is harmful to fat people's health.
https://themighty.com/2020/10/weight-stigma-hurts-health
October 25, 2020: Vol*Up*2 looks at four poems that are feminist and celebrate women's bodies, and the women who wrote those poems.
https://www.volup2.com/articles-and-blog/2020/8/22/four-feminist-poems-that-celebrate-womens-bodies-written-and-translated-by-laurisa-sastoque
October 25, 2020: Merissa Nathan Gerson provides a history of fat activism as part of Jewish culture as well as a glimpse into the newest generation of Jewish people who are working for fat liberation.
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/community/articles/fat-liberation-jewish-past-and-future
October 27, 2020: Recent research (non-published/non-peer reviewed) presented at the American College of Gastroenterology 2020 Annual Scientific Meeting finds that cannabis use may reduce steatohepatitis (a progression of fatty liver disease, a condition found in many fat people). This study is very preliminary.
https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/939813
https://thisfatoldlady.com/2020/11/07/this-fat-old-ladys-fat-friday-smoke-em-if-you-got-em
November 9, 2020: Scary Mommy blogs about the need to lift up the voices of disabled people who are a part of the fat community.
https://www.scarymommy.com/ableism-body-positivity-movement
November 13, 2020: Aubrey Gordon (also known as Your Fat Friend) describes the battles between her body and the healthcare establishment and government as a fat child during the War on Obesity.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/13/opinion/childhood-obesity-health.html
