Zoe Saldana's Weight Apparently A Cover-Worthy Attribute: Thanks, Allure

Zoe Saldana's weight is, apparently, a cover-worthy subject. The latest issue of Allure magazine found it necessary to use the star's weight as a major attribute in its cover blurb. Actress Zoe Saldana is described as "115 Pounds of Grit and Heartache."

Which, well, sounds like not very much grit and heartache. Or much at all. But it's supposed to make us think...she's a lot? Somehow?

Sigh.

omg! on Yahoo called the move "unnecessary". The full interview has yet to be released, but when omg! contacted Saldana's rep, they shunted them off to Allure, who had the comment "no comment".

Maybe they've already made their comment...on the cover. Using a woman's weight as a descriptive attribute sends the message that the number on the scale is a major part of who she is.

Can you imagine a cover story about, say, Obama saying "180 Pounds of Foreign Policy Decisiveness?"

Hilary Levey Friedman, a Harvard sociologist specializing in media image, calls Allure's move to display Saldana's weight "an interesting choice". She notes that many women today don't focus on numbers on the scale but, rather, overall health or, if numbers are used, on Body Mass Index, which reflects for height but not muscle mass or other health indicators like cholesterol or blood pressure.

Friedman says the Allure cover sends the message that, "you need to be thin and strong. Just one isn't enough anymore. This only puts more demands on women and can lead to varied types of disordered eating."

It's a bit of a throwback, Friedman notes. "It used to be common to share numbers like weight and measurements. While it is still common within the modeling industry ... more mainstream pop culture has shied away from it. Even the Miss America Pageant stopped listing the weights and measurements of its competitors by the 1990s."

Recent moves to use healthier models and shy away from numbers include decisions in 2007 by modeling councils in the US, Spain, Italy, and Israel to not use models who fall below a certain BMI or who are under 16. Vogue Magazine vowed to do the same recently. The decisions have been enforced in different ways (and with varying success levels), but were generally seen as a step in the right direction.

The Zoe Saldana weight cover seems to make it two forward, one back.