@stellabelle, I'd love it if you could explain more (not that you owe that to anyone). Why do you perceive eploiting one's looks or sex appeal to be any different than exploiting one's "creativity"? Can't one be creative/unique in their sex appeal as much as in their music, their art, their...whatever? Why do you perceive the former as somehow lower? Is it possible that your views on this are clouded by your own personal tragedy? By that I mean that perhaps your aversion is simply visceral/emotional rather than logical or principled? I don't mean that as an insult in any way. I too have aversions to things based on my own traumatic history that don't make logical sense, but they are very real.
And finally, wouldn't you agree that "being exploited" is very different from exploiting one's own gifts or talents? All to often people conflate the two, but they are very different. One disempowers, the other empowers.
Intelligence is also mostly given by nature, so it is not virtue
it is very similar to beauty in that sense.