If nothing else, this was a valuable public service in the interest of ensuring building safety codes are up to snuff. Those steel beams of whatever hotel these Baconators stomped into were tested to hell and apparently held up.
Related: Southwest Airlines Caves to Fat Mob, Gives Away Free Seats to Obese Passengers
Via NPR, a “picture show”:
There was art of fat bodies with apron bellies and stretch marks showing. Keychains that said "I am body goals" featuring bigger bodied people celebrating themselves.
There were racks of vibrant clothes that started with a size XL and went up from there. Clothes that people could actually try on and take home with them, a luxury if you are over a size 16.
I had arrived at Philly FatCon, a fat-focused convention for people to come as they are and celebrate their bodies…
The weekend offered panels such as "Fat, Happy, and Healed" and "Fat & Fashionable" where influencers, experts and brands shared personal experiences, as well as advice on topics from fashion to combating fatphobia…
There were wellness classes that ranged from breathe and flow yoga to dance classes like Twerk-lesque and "Free the Jiggle." The instructors were all plus size and made the classes modifiable for people who needed it.
Queen Nzinga, who taught the Twerk-lesque class, has been a dancer her entire life and had been told that, while she was talented, she was too fat — a remark that was received with nods of mutual understanding. Today, Queen is a burlesque dancer known as "Philly's Twerk Queen."
"We don't have places like this to just be fat in a room," Queen shared with us. "We are the 'normal bodies.' America's fat*. And people love fat people — but that isn't broadcasted enough. There is another side to fat, where people live out loud."
*Sadly, this is an accurate reflection of reality in modern America, so credit where credit is due to Queen Nzinga and her Kingdom of Lard.
You will note, if you masochistically subject yourself to a full browsal of the photographic documentation of this seismic event, as I did as a form of pseudo-religious penance for my sins, several instances of roly polies in masks for COVID safety.
It’s always strange to see a 400-pounder in a COVID mask, as if they’re taking all necessary precautions to protect themselves from the ravages of COVID.
Via a meta-analysis published in Frontiers in Endocrinology:
In total, 3,140,413 patients from 167 studies were included in the study. Obesity was associated with an increased risk of severe disease (RR=1.52, 95% CI 1.41-1.63, p<0.001, I2 = 97%). Similarly, high mortality was observed in obese patients (RR=1.09, 95% CI 1.02-1.16, p=0.006, I2 = 97%). In multivariate meta-regression on severity, the covariate of the female gender, pulmonary disease, diabetes, older age, cardiovascular diseases, and hypertension was found to be significant and explained R2 = 40% of the between-study heterogeneity for severity. The aforementioned covariates were found to be significant for mortality as well, and these covariates collectively explained R2 = 50% of the between-study variability for mortality…
Obesity has a strong association with increased severity and mortality of COVID-19 infection. Our results suggest that obese individuals are 1.5 times more likely to experience severe outcomes and 1.09 times more likely to die when compared to non-obese individuals with COVID-19 disease.
But sure, whatever. A cloth face cover that doesn’t stop droplets 100 times bigger than the SARS-CoV-2 virus is totally going to keep you safe. That’s called The Science™.
