The James Bond collection has always been one of my guilty (and anti-feminist) pleasures.
Having just finished a research paper for a class on espionage focusing on Fleming's novels, I thought I'd ask what the fuck was Ian Fleming thinking?
In his novel, Goldfinger, one of the notorious Bond Girls is Pussy Galore. As if her name wasn't bad enough (which implies women are nothing more and nothing less than their anatomy) Pussy Galore's story is age-old. She is the leader of all-lesbian gang from New York who is first sent to kill James Bond.
When James Bond asks Pussy Galore why she's a lesbian, she tells him its because she was raped by her uncle. It gets worse.
By the end of the novel, Bond seduces Pussy and converts her into a heterosexual. In what is, in my opinion, the most offensive moment in James Bond history Bond asserts that he can not only turn Pussy straight but he can also rid her of the emotional scars she has over being raped. She agrees. He does this simply by having sex with her.
In the seduction scene, Bond tells Pussy to "lock that door.. take off that sweater and come into bed." Fleming writes that Pussy "did as she told, like an obedient child."
I know most feminists don't expect much from the James Bond collection but the films tend to garner the most attention for a critical analysis. The novels are an untapped source of anti-woman bullshit too.
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So with you. The more I am seeing the world as a Feminist, the more I find myself incapable of enjoying James Bond. I went to see Casino Royale when it came out and was thoroughly disgusted, though not quite as much as I was a couple of weeks later when I had to read the books for class. Not only does Ian Flemming read like a horny teenager with a hero-complex, but his depiction of Bond's relationship with and feelings for women is so misogynistic that I couldn't stand to read it.
I don't think that any partner in that kind of situation should be ordered around (unless they have specifically stated that's what they want, which it doesn't sound like it here). Isn't that sort of taking advantage of them? What shit.