Defining A Bond Girl
The modern-era definition of a Bond Girl is a character who provides a love interest for James Bond or is sex object in a film, novel or video game.

Bond girls are often victims rescued by Bond, fellow agents or allies, villainesses or members of an enemy organisation; sometimes, as with many 'pool' scenes, they are mere eye candy and have no direct involvement in Bond's mission. Other female characters such as Judi Dench's M and Miss Moneypenny are not considered Bond girls.

The role of a Bond girl is typically a high-profile part that can give a major boost to the career of unestablished actresses (for example Jane Seymour, Rosamund Pike), although there have been a number of Bond girls that were well-established prior to gaining their role (for example Honor Blackman, Diana Rigg, Halle Berry).

Above: Timothy Dalton posing with the "Bond Girls" for a The Living Daylights photo shoot.

To date, only one Bond girl has really captured the heart of James Bond. Tracy di Vicenzo played by Diana Rigg, marries Bond in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969). At the end of the film, Tracy is gunned down by Bond's nemesis Ernst Stavro Blofeld. It was initially planned that her death would actually occur in Diamonds Are Forever (1971), but this idea was dropped during filming of On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

Within the official series, Maud Adams is the only actress to play two different Bond girls, first in The Man with the Golden Gun in 1974, and then as the title character in Octopussy (1983). She additionally appears as an extra in a third Bond film, A View to a Kill in 1985, in the market scene.

Two other girls, Martine Beswick (Thunderball) and Nadja Regin (Goldfinger) also appear in a second adventure: they first appeared in From Russia with Love.

Above: Denise Richards and Sophie Marceau from "The World Is Not Enough"

Critics
Since the film series began, Bond girls have been criticized by feminists, and others, who feel they generalize women as bimbos, damsels in distress, or objectify women as a result of Bond's actions.

Through the years, the role of the Bond girl has changed from the stereotypical 'woman hanging on his gun-arm' to Bond's equal, possessing special skills he needs to complete his mission, or even at times women that rescue Bond. These Bond girls are shown to be more headstrong, resourceful, and, in recent films, capable of holding their own. For example, in Moonraker the character of Holly Goodhead is established as being a trained space shuttle commander, a number of years before the first female shuttle commander was appointed in the real world. Wai Lin in Tomorrow Never Dies, is a trained special agent working for People's Republic of China; Jinx in Die Another Day is presented as Bond's opposite number in the NSA.

There have been a few failed attempts to create a female version of Bond though. Anya Amasova in The Spy Who Loved Me was supposed to be Bond's equal from the KGB, but her character lacked a sense of threat or competency. Other character failures have occurred when supposed intelligence has been over stressed: geologist Stacey Sutton in A View To A Kill is a damsel in distress, and nuclear physicist Dr Christmas Jones in The World Is Not Enough was criticised for her bimbo-esque appearance.

Note: * denotes short story.