Media & Research Roundup - January 2026

Jan 29

*[Image description: A photo of book pages laid out overlapping each other.]*

By Bill and Terri Weitze

CONTENT NOTE: Some articles featured in the Media & Research Roundup may refer to stigmatizing events or use stigmatizing language. Websites hosting the articles linked below may allow advertisements for weight loss products and/or otherwise problematic ads.

October 3, 2025: The Curvy Fashionista discusses why fat people are seldom seen in the boardroom of corporations due to fat discrimination and bias that starts even at the point of being hired.

October 9, 2025: Praise to Teen Vogue for providing an article on fat sex that is fat-positive, and educational and doesn’t use confusing euphemisms. It includes ideas for positions and helpful items for fat pleasure in clear understandable language.

December 2025: Thank you to Retraction Watch for spotting that a World Bank report on fatness contained at least 14 fake references and getting the report removed from the World Bank Group’s website as the report undergoes review.

December 8, 2025: According to recent research, the idea that GLP-1 drugs offer a reduced risk of developing one of the 13 fatness-related cancers is unfounded. The study finds that GLP-1 drugs have little or no effect on this risk.

December 9, 2025: Claiming a new, safer form of bariatric surgery, a hospital in New Jersey offers a procedure using magnets, which when inserted and docked, cause the intestinal section between the magnets to die and reroute. What could possibly go wrong with that?

December 16, 2025: Peg Elam of Pearlsong Press, well-known for publishing a wide range of fiction, nonfiction and poetry, as well as fat-positive literature, is interviewed in this article.

December 22, 2025: Researchers find that people who believe that fatness is a disease are just as likely to engage in weight-based discrimination and hold negative stereotypes as those who believe it is due to a lack of self-control.

December 26, 2025: Researchers look at the social implications of GLP-1 weight loss drugs, concluding the scale at which these drugs are being adopted will cause significant social implications.

December 29, 2025: For The Curvy Fashionista, Marie Denee writes that nobody needs to worry about fixing themselves before the arrival of the new year. Even after December 31st, this article offers some good advice on how to stop trying to “fix” what isn’t broken.

January 2026: Starting January 27, 2026, Southwest Airlines will require fat passengers to purchase a second seat prior to flying. Refunds will only be made if the plane departs and there is an open seat, in the same fare class. So once again we are at the point where airlines are selling seats – not travel.

January 2026: A yoga studio in Dublin, Ireland welcomes all bodies for joyful movement without weight stigma or diet culture. Unfortunately, below the article there is a plethora of weight-loss product ads.

January 1, 2026: Juan Pedro Franco, reportedly once the heaviest living person, died at age 41, probably from a kidney infection that caused a sudden decline in his health. It is noted that he underwent several weight loss surgeries which, as we know, can cause malnutrition and compromise the immune system. This article takes this man’s death as an excuse to talk about fatness.

January 6, 2026: Having made peace with her body size, Debbie Kaufman has founded the Body Liberation & Public Health Project, a resource for public health professionals to learn about weight stigma and the harm it causes.