Are women in fiction almost entirely valued and judged on their appearance?

This is something I've been thinking about for a long time now.

Women in fiction are almost entirely valued and judged on their appearance.

My favorite science fiction author, Isaac Asimov, is as guilty as any in his depiction of female characters. All except for one are "lovely creatures." They are spirited and spoiled and believe themselves to be independent - until they fall in love with the smart (or strong) male lead. Then they submit and become an ornament. The one exception is brilliant roboticist, Susan Calvin. Calvin is portrayed as being entirely sterile. She is also often ridiculed for her lack of sexuality, so even his one female character who is valued for her brains is also ridiculed for them, and is thus judged primarily on her looks.

Here we see a quote from The Stars Like Dust that epitomizes the phenomenon:

"The trip, he decided, could be quite wonderful if she would only learn to behave herself. The trouble was that no one had ever controlled her properly, that was all. Certainly not her father. She'd become too used to having her own way. If she'd been born a commoner, she would be a very lovely creature."

The book that got me thinking about this in the first place is Jitterbug Perfume. It was something I read in college then recently rediscovered. Here's the quote that so offended me:

"Kudra produced a boar-bristle brush and laid it to her tangles. In a moment, her hair was rippling and shining. Mount Chomolungma raised a few inches higher on her toes to see where that black glow was coming from."

She's such a lovely creature, the mountains are standing up taller to get a better look when she brushes her hair. If you're an average woman or not in your 20's, I bet the Jitterbug mountains would take a nap instead.

Men, on the other hand, are valued for many qualities: intelligence, bravery, honesty, strength, integrity, wisdom etc etc as well as looks. For women, all these qualities are icing on the cake. If she's not making mountains stand up to peek, no one is interested in her. It's bad enough this is the case in 'real life.' Do we need to reinforce it in fiction as well?

With my first book, Elaenorh, the character herself and the narrator make no mention of her appearance. Other characters react to her with attraction, though they don't go on and on about what a lovely creature she is. In the book I'm working on now the women are judged on appearance, but I try to judge the men equally in that regard. I'm not sure if I've given them fully equal treatment.

So - my question to you - can you think of a woman in literature who isn't mostly and primarily judged and valued based on her appearance?