What Barbara Carrera, A 1980s Bond Girl, Thinks About The Series' Sexism

Bond Girls aren't known for being the most empowered female characters, but what's it really like to play one?

Barbara Carrera, who played Fatima Blush in 1983's “Never Say Never Again” -- during the Sean Connery era of James Bond films -- spoke with the New York Times' Julie Bosman about her experiences being a Bond Girl. As actresses like Carerra, Honor Blackman and Ursula Andress learned, it's not a label that is easily forgotten.

"[After playing Fatima Blush], every role I got offered was bad-women roles, bad women, bad women," Carrera told the Times.

Bosman also asked the Nicaragua-born actress how she felt about the criticism Bond films often get for being sexist. Instead of defending the series, Carerra said that she agreed with the critique:

I think that was true. The women were more or less a decorative piece. They had big smiles, beautiful hair, bikinis. There were exceptions, but most of them weren’t given much to do except look pretty. With Fatima, that’s what I loved. I didn’t want her to be another Bond girl. I wanted her to have a lot of something, a lot of oomph.

[H/T New York Times]