You think it's easy for a girl to get a job like this?

There are indeed contemporary female heroes. There’s Wonder Woman, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and, my personal favorite, Sydney Bristow from “Alias.” There’s also Neytiri from “Avatar,” Trinity from “The Matrix,” and Lyra Belacqua from “His Dark Materials.” Women can certainly be heroes, but they’re not always valued for being women. Sometimes, women are encouraged to act like men if they want to succeed. Mulan in the Disney film “Mulan” is forced to dress as a man in order to join the army and fight for her country. Without her disguise, her adventure would have never taken place. Other times, women are congratulated and recognized for having talents commonly associated with men. Medea in Euripides’s play “Medea” is praised for “thinking like man.” “Wow,” some of the men of the play exclaim when she talks to them. “You use logic when you argue. You think like man. Remarkable!” The assumption that traits like strength and intelligence are inherently masculine is degrading and rude. Too many times, heroines are admired just for their looks and sexuality. Just type in “female comic book heroes” into Google Images, and you’ll see what I mean. Heroines in comic books have ridiculous proportions and wear outfits that I really don’t think could handle much crime fighting. If female heroes are valued for their femininity, it’s more for what their sex entails than for what they can do to help raise the female population.