'In my profession,' said Bond prosily, 'the exact meaning of words is vital.’ As a Bond fan with a degree in linguistics I couldn’t agree more. New readers of Fleming’s Bond novels may be surprised to read words which have shifted in meaning since Ian Fleming used them in the 1950s and early 1960s, particularly words associated with homosexuality: ‘faggot’, ‘gay’ and ‘queer’. Many are quick to dismiss them as relics of an earlier age. But when we look at these words in context, it becomes apparent that Fleming might have been fully aware of what he was doing all along…

Those who subscribe to the ‘codename theory’ - the idea that James Bond is not someone’s real name but an identity passed from one agent to another - can’t deal with the apparent lack of continuity in the character’s appearance and personality over several decades. But for queer people in particular, it gives the character yet another dimension we can relate to: the ability to change while also staying, fundamentally, the same.

Why is Casino Royale’s Vesper Lynd such a queer icon? Perhaps it’s because she does such a good job of keeping a secret, one she gets to reveal to the world on her own terms. But the original script shows that this wasn’t always the case…

James Bond dies! (in more ways that one)
James Bond gets married! (for convenience)
James Bond turns Japanese! (and is actually quite happy until he’s dragged back to ‘normal’ life against his will)
Also: more phallic objects than you can shake a stick at (oh behave!)

When I was interviewed for The A.V. Club’s Why We Love - Pride Edition series, I shared publicly for the first time many of the ideas about Bond that had been going around in my head for years. Here is the full, unedited interview.

Bond has gravitas (and gravity) again after the out of this world adventure of Moonraker. But being back down to Earth doesn’t mean we have to jettison the camp and the queer completely. And Margaret Thatcher gets chatted up by a parrot. Take that Section 28!

Spencie d’Entremont is proud to describe herself as a trans Bond girl and nobody does it better than her when it comes to Bond girl fashion. We had a long talk about our favorite Bond girls, why she found them so inspiring when she was transitioning and what it would be like to have a trans person finally take a leading role in a Bond film.

When Cameron Scheetz from The A.V. Club emailed me out of the blue to invite me to contribute to a new documentary series he was putting together for Pride Month I jumped at the chance to spread the word: QUEER BOND FANS EXIST.

Bond’s first queer director creates a masterpiece in which 007 gets a new face, goes undercover as a gay genealogist and finally takes a woman up the aisle. But his happiness is, perhaps inevitably, short-lived.

Like a bottle of Phuyuck ‘74, The Man With The Golden Gun has aged… interestingly. Officially, 007 is hot on the pursuit of (*checks notes*) something-to-do-with-solar-energy. But the real drama is whether Bond will be able to save his fractured masculinity in a ‘mano a mano’ duel to the death with Francisco Scaramanga.

If it’s true that books we read as children influence us for the rest of our lives, then Thunderball, which I first read when I was eight years old, has a lot to answer for.