Author's Choice to Measure
I read a novel today in which the heroine is convinced she is too plump to be attractive. This worry is deserving of fictional treatment; I'm usually happy to see it shot down. But the author made the choice to state this heroine's exact height and clothing size. That choice automatically divides all female readers into those larger and smaller than the heroine. And it pushes those larger than the heroine to either feel bad about themselves, or derisive of the heroine (I chose derisive; the poor baby is taller than me and half my jeans size -- how agonizing to be her!). I think that the specificity of those numbers adds nothing positive to this story, as they are never used in the plot and never shift up or down. I think this author would have been better served by imprecision in this case.