Media and Research Roundup
Image is of three news articles about fatphobia or featuring fat media stars. From left to right, the headlines read, “Can We Dismantle Fatphobia on the Red Carpet,” “Hollywood Made Rutherford Falls’ Jana Schmieding Feel ‘Invisible.’ Now She’s TV Smooching Your Schitt’s Creek Crush,” and “Every Body Talks: The appropriation of the body positive movement”.
September 2020: A study concludes that the preoperative dietary restriction is the cause for most of the metabolic changes that have been attributed to Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery.
https://doi.org/10.2337/db20-0131
April 19, 2021: In the Every Body Talks column, questions are raised about the origins and purpose of the Body Positivity Movement, but few are answered.
https://www.dailyuw.com/wellness/article_7242af9e-a0c4-11eb-8e65-e3af6842af93.html
April 22, 2021: Peacock's show Rutherford Falls co-stars native American and fat woman Jana Schmieding, and the show was quick to introduce a love interest. Schmieding discusses how much she has internalized the myth that fat people are not attractive.
https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2021/04/10433006/rutherford-falls-peacock-cast-jana-schmieding-reagan
April 22, 2021: A reduced version of photographer Laura Aguilar's Los Angeles show has finally made it to New York, four years after the original exhibition, featuring Aguilar's intimate photos of her own fat body.
https://dnyuz.com/2021/04/22/she-turned-her-audacious-lens-on-herself-and-shaped-the-future/
April 25, 2021: An article on Vogue.com looks at the lack of options for high end apparel for fat bodies, which is especially evident at award shows where fat celebrities struggle to find fashionable clothing for the red carpet.
https://www.vogue.com/article/can-we-dismantle-fat-phobia-on-the-red-carpet
April 27, 2021: Dietitians of Canada decline to endorse the new Canadian Adult Obesity Clinical Practice Guidelines for several reasons, including excessive emphasis on weight loss.
https://www.dietitians.ca/News/2021/DC-endorsement-decision-on-Canadian-Adult-Obesity
April 30, 2021: In these two articles, Aidy Bryant talks about herself, her character on Shrill, and the importance of normalizing representation of fat people.
https://people.com/health/aidy-bryant-says-doctor-suggested-she-get-gastric-bypass-they-assume-she-wants-to-lose-weight
https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/tv/aidy-bryant-show-final-season/2021/04/29/4e6f0382-a755-11eb-8c1a-56f0cb4ff3b5_story.html
May 2021: Tigress Osborn is interviewed by The Curvy Fashionista about NAAFA's first annual Fat Liberation Month.
https://thecurvyfashionista.com/naafa-fat-liberation-month
May 2021: The latest issue of Fat Studies is now available. This issue focuses on fatness and the law.
https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/ufts20/10/2?nav=tocList
May 5, 2021: Jennifer Weiner warns that the diet industry is looking to profit off people's concerns about weight gain during the pandemic and urges you to resist.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/05/opinion/culture/dieting-covid-weight-loss.html
May 8, 2021: A Los Angeles Times article talks about how the pandemic brought into focus the discrimination faced by the fat community from a healthcare industry already rife with fat bias.
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-05-08/analyzing-covid-vaccine-inequity-through-obesity-lens
May 11, 2021: New weight loss drugs are being developed using incretins, naturally occurring hormones. The drugs are slightly more effective than most, showing average weight loss of 15%, and 20% or higher weight loss of 30% of the patients tested; but once you stop the medication the weight comes back.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/11/health/obesity-drugs.html
[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.