This selective approach to updating the text is deliberate, says Australian author Clementine Ford, who has written about the sexism behind on-screen Bond girls, of which there have been over 75 so far. Additionally, homophobic statements including the idea that homosexuality is a “stubborn disability” will reportedly remain. References to the “sweet tang of rape,” “blithering women,” and failing to do a “man’s work” will reportedly not be removed from the books. While some readers may welcome the removal of racial slurs and stereotypes, the franchise also has a reputation for outdated, one-dimensional gender roles, as well as female characters with sexual innuendos for names.

No, the sixth Bond novel, characters whose race was once identifiable have now become “gangsters,” while in Goldfinger, Black servicemen in a Second World War logistics unit, the Red Ball Express, have simply become “ex-drivers.” What sexist content has stayed in the books? Overall, racial descriptors have been significantly reduced. The novels were also littered with well known racial slurs for Black people, which have been changed in the new editions to “black person” or “black man” where relevant. Fleming wrote that the man and woman spoke in an accent that was “straight Harlem-Deep South with a lot of New York thrown in.” One such instance is Bond’s assertion that suspected African criminals are “pretty law-abiding chaps I should have thought, except when they’ve drunk too much,” which has now been shortened to “pretty law-abiding chaps I should have thought.”Īnother passage that has been completely removed sees Bond witnessing a couple arguing in Harlem in New York City. What racist content has been removed from Fleming’s novels?Īccording to The Telegraph, most of the revisions pertain to the way Black people are described. As the publishing industry faces increased scrutiny for revising texts, here’s what to know about changes to the James Bond novels.

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