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The kooky conceit behind Pamela Anderson's incredibly popular VIP series was the somewhat sexist in-joke about how unlikely it would be that this ditzy, good-looking blonde with the double-ought hooters could be an effective bodyguard. Being a fluffy female, she'd be so much more likely to worry about breaking a nail than breaking up an attack on a client.
The reason, of course, that it's sexist is because it's been proven, time and again, that gender is no barrier to effectiveness, either serving in an army, or more particularly, as a bodyguard.
Sure, VIP is fiction. So is Frank Herbert's Dune, in which he created the formidable Fish Speakers, a private bodyguard, fiercely dedicated to the life of their principal, Leto II, God Emperor of Dune. The Fish Speakers were "fanatical, disciplined, and extremely effective" and were subsequently used by Leto in a breeding program. Author Frank Herbert describes them as "the ultimate male-enticing force...sex always has a way of subduing the aggressive male. They prevent or ameliorate excesses..."
It would seem that there are many who agree with Herbert, not least of which is the eccentric ruler of Libya, Moammar Khaddafy. Beginning in 1990, Khaddafy surrounded himself with what has been described as "a phalanx of sexy female bodyguards" called The Green Nuns . These 500 heavily armed women are said to make up an elite unit of the country's Revolutionary Guard Corps. Supposedly all virgins, the unit is as fanatically loyal as the Dune Fish Speakers, a claim demonstrated by one bodyguard who threw herself on Khaddafy, shielding his body from gunfire when rebels attacked his motorcade in 1998. The guard, whose name was Aisha and who was said to be "his favourite" lost her life in that incident. More recently, the martial arts and weapons-trained amazons caused a diplomatic incident in Nigeria when 200 of them refused to hand over their arms upon arrival at the Abuja airport along with Khaddafy who was attending a summit. Only after several hours and the personal intervention of the president of Nigeria did the heavily armed unit agree to hand in their weapons.
In Russia, where equality of the sexes was viewed by the Communist Party as a revolutionary virtue, women training to become bodyguards is not considered unusual. Olga Utkina, 27, is one such hired gun, working for the Russian Divo Agency. Clients "came to value shooting skills over physical strength in the late 1990s," says agency head Mark Sazonov.
But it is perhaps in Asia where female bodyguards have made the greatest inroads. In China, women are increasingly being put into service , both to protect executives' women and children, and also to work in situations where "a burly guy with a buzz cut and shades" might be too conspicuous. In India, too, women are taking posts as private security, in a response to soaring crime rates. In Korea, female bodyguards came together to found the Blue Bird Women's Bodyguard Team, a business unit of the country's leading domestic security company. Perhaps fittingly, the Blue Birds' first client was the president of the Korea Nude Model Association.
More than just a cultural phenomenon, though, the concept of female bodyguards makes for attractive employment opportunities for a generation of women who are used to spending hours at a time in the gym. More than ever, say industry representatives, there is a shortage of female bodyguards. "Women celebrities (Lindsay Lohan, Beyonce Knowles, and J K Rowling, to name a few) often gravitate toward female bodyguards. The preference is to have a protector who is attentive, alert, quick on their feet, and won't draw attention in public–the way a 6′5, 350 pound man would."
One place there's no shortage of female bodyguards is in science fiction. There are the Fish Speakers we spoke of earlier, but among the legions of empowered sci-fi women, there are plenty who choose to work as muscle for hire. And fortunately, there are sci-fi fans just nerdy enough to create a list of them.
So with even the pundits of possible future, the writers of science fiction, convinced that there's a future in bodyguarding for women, can we assume that the sexism that relegates Vallery Irons to a presumed role on the sidelines is a thing of the past, or will soon be one? Or is the emergent popularity of female bodyguards just an expression of a male "girls with guns" fetish?
It's tough to say for sure. But we've seen Barb Wire, and we know that Pam is more than just eye candy, don't we?
