Elena Gilbert is my hero now?!

I'm probably so, so wrong. But I can't help but notice that when Elena's vampire boyfriend goes evil, she's willing to give up on him and move on with her life. She doesn't have super powers though she is surrounded by characters that do, but she insists on sticking it to the vamps and weres as best she can. An evil, snarky vampire is way into Elena but she can't abide his evil or return his feelings, yet she rejects him without belittling him or beating him into the ground. She has sex without angsting, feeling ashamed or being punished with 'consequences'. Elena loses people close to her, gets rejected and disappointed by her true love, and faces apocalyptic threats, but she doesn't cope with those things via casual sex or drugs.

Conclusion: maybe horror isn't my genre.

P.S. Is Joss portraying the horrors of patriarchy when he brings the hammer down on Buffy again and again, or is he the patriarchy?