A Woman’s Virtue

One might ask: what three qualities would one value in a woman? Well, as a woman, I would like to argue that they are the three “I”s: independence, intelligence, and integrity. These three may seem off-base compared to the mass-marketing of women and how it focuses on presentation of oneself as a woman, rather than her deportment, and how one speaks. Why not beauty, or even kindness? Well, intelligence is because research has proven that women develop intellectual thoughts at a more rapid rate, and far earlier in life, than men do on a typical basis. Intelligence being the subject of much fear from women sometimes; an example of things we are either expected to reject while embracing our physical attributes as "money makers" or fully submitting to intelligent practices in life and on the subject of surviving the new takes on being an ideal woman, what will get us the farthest, what values us holding in our lives visibly will give us the most social validation. On the subject of qualities like independence, because women were in the 20th century programmed to be ordered around by men. However, the 21st century woman is, in essence, a strong, independent woman who doesn’t need a man. Contrary wise, on the same plane of understanding, women have only changed so far as to have to market themselves to a man; essentially, learning to think that this is the correct standard for a woman of class, to act according to the social laws and obligations that men set into standard have throughout the last half-century, ones that, while meeting standards for a new treatment of women, turning into one that rather makes it look more like the social standards of marketing yourself in a man's world were a woman's invention. Simply put, independence has turned into the A-typical man of the previous century to have less responsibility, and to basically have lap fulls of women of every type; all the while maintaining two common elements, that of being the sex symbol and that of success; because as many popular women's magazine tell young women these days "A successful woman is sexy" at least, in their gist, in terms of portraying success to everyone else. Integrity is valued by women because it’s one thing men can never take away from them, valued because it's the one thing you can only validate with your actions and choices in life, giving women a sense of control, should they choose to use it. These three “I”’s are what every successful woman should value; so long as they go about them in a way that fits into the woman they want to become, and don't become ensnared in societal expectations that breed sexism, and bad views of oneself in terms of the new definition of womanhood bred by the 21st century and 20th reform and culture movements, and that which is perpetrated and standard in our society today; successful sex kitten.

In today’s society, women have been since and even today used as a symbolic figure of attraction. Media is one of the large industries that women are sexually portrayed in, mostly to promote or engage in costumers’ interest, and to other women as a model of perfection, the perfect attainment of womanhood, as well, possibly. But, media is not the only subject of portraying women as material, otherwise this documentation would have no point what so ever. Women are exposed everyday whether it’s a simple commercial on television, or an actress in a movie. Yes, a lot of the women who have chosen to pursue a actress career, are almost always exposing what a woman of an normal life would value as integrity; some baring themselves for their art, could be construed as having integrity, staying true to their passions. And of course, on the flip side, not all women choose to live this way, but not all of them would reject a job where they exposed themselves, and some would, and do for the right price, put their lives and social standing at risk. Most of us would have a clear