Pussy Galore: Feminist icon

A producer claims the early Bond girls were "very progressive."

Published September 22, 2008 1:40PM (EDT)

Barbara Broccoli, co-producer and owner of the James Bond franchise, told the Sunday Telegraph that some of the early Bond girls were not just eye candy but admirable glass-ceiling breakers. "The women were unique for their time," she said. "Pussy Galore, for instance, was a female pilot. A lot of them were sexual predators who gave as good as they got. They had professional careers and did extraordinary things. I think the early women were very progressive." Oh, of course! Why didn't I ever realize that Pussy Galore was the '60s' answer to Amelia Earhart? Or that being a "sexual predator" counts as a progressive feminist credential, for that matter?

Because no discussion of sexism would be complete without talk of pissed-off feminists, the Telegraph helpfully informs us that feminists are "angry" and "infuriated" about Broccoli's comments. I haven't spoken to the same feminists they have, but I think the folks over there might need to learn the difference between "angry" and "highly amused that anyone could say this shit with a straight face."


By Kate Harding

Kate Harding is the author of Asking For It: The Alarming Rise of Rape Culture--and What We Can Do About It, available from Da Capo Press in August 2015. Previously, she collaborated with Anna Holmes, Amanda Hess, and a cast of thousands on The Book of Jezebel, and with Marianne Kirby on Lessons from the Fat-o-Sphere. You might also remember her as the founding editor of Shapely Prose (2007-2010). Kate's essays have appeared in the anthologies Madonna & Me, Yes Means Yes, Feed Me, and Airmail: Women of Letters. She holds an M.F.A. in fiction from Vermont College of Fine Arts and a B.A. in English from University of Toronto, and is currently at work on a Ph.D. in creative writing from Bath Spa University

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