Bond author claimed lesbians ‘just need to meet the right man’ to be cured
A letter from James Bond author Ian Fleming has revealed he believed lesbians could be cured by “the right man” coming along.
Fleming penned the original James Bond novels from 1953 until his death in 1964, introducing the character of Pussy Galore in 1959 novel ‘Goldfinger’.
In Fleming’s novel, Pussy tells Bond that she became a lesbian after she was sexually abused by her uncle at the age of 12 – but is ‘cured’ following a liaison with the spy.
A letter from Fleming, which is to be auctioned this month, reveals the author’s intent for the character.
He was responding to correspondence from a reader who complained that “although not a psycho-pathologist, I think it is slightly naughty of you to change a criminal lesbian into a clinging honey-bun (to be bottled by Bond) in the last chapter”.
Fleming defended his work, writing: “I disagree with your penultimate paragraph, couched though it is in such graphic language.
“Pussy only needed the right man to come along and perform the laying on of hands in order to cure her psycho-pathalogical malady.”
Despite Fleming’s intentions, Pussy Galore once again came out as a lesbian in new Bond novel Trigger Mortis, penned this year by Anthony Horowitz.
The letter is expected to be sold for at least £3,000 when it is auctioned by Bonhams this month.
