The term bombshell is a forerunner to the term "sex symbol" used to describe popular women regarded as very attractive.[1][2] The Online Etymology Dictionary by Douglas Harper attests the usage of the term in this meaning since 1942.
The term is most commonly associated with attractive blonde women, labelled blonde bombshells.[3] Studies have consistently shown that according to men, blondes are more beautiful than brunettes or redheads.[4][5][6][7][8] However, attractive female celebrities with other hair colors are also occasionally described as "bombshells" too.[9][10]
Bombshell has a longer history in its other, more general figurative meaning of a "shattering or devastating thing or event" since 1860.[11]
History
[edit]The first woman to be known as a bombshell was Jean Harlow, who was nicknamed the "blonde bombshell" for her film Platinum Blonde (1931).[12][13][14][15] Two years later, she starred in the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film Bombshell (1933).[12] One of the blurbs on posters was "Lovely, luscious, exotic Jean Harlow as the Blonde Bombshell of filmdom."[16] Hollywood soon took up the blonde bombshell, and then, during the late 1940s through the early 1960s, brunette, exotic, and ethnic versions (e.g., Jane Russell, Dorothy Dandridge and Sophia Loren) were also cultivated as complements to, or as satellites of, the blonde bombshell.[17]
Some of the movie stars, largely of the 1940s–1960s, referred to as bombshells include Marilyn Monroe, Rita Hayworth,[9] Diana Dors,[18] Jayne Mansfield, Mamie Van Doren,[19] Jane Russell, Ava Gardner, Camelia, Carroll Baker, Brigitte Bardot,[20] Kim Novak, Julie Christie, Sophia Loren, Elizabeth Taylor, Ann-Margret, Hind Rostom, Veronica Lake, Raquel Welch, Ursula Andress,[21][22] Marlene Dietrich, Betty Grable, Marie Wilson, Judy Holliday, Lana Turner, Dorothy Dandridge, Barbara Eden, Carol Wayne, Goldie Hawn, Claudia Cardinale, Anita Ekberg[23] and Gina Lollobrigida.[10]
The epithet rose sharply in popularity after the death of Marilyn Monroe in 1962, and declined in popularity in the late 1960s due to emerging ideological conflicts.[21]
Stereotype
[edit]Bombshells are identified with hypersexuality, their curves, including hourglass figures and large breasts, sex appeal, larger than life personas or hedonistic lifestyle,[21] as well as stereotypes associated with blonde women and supermodels.[21][17][24]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "Definition of BOMBSHELL". www.merriam-webster.com.
- ^ "bombshell – Definition of bombshell in English by Oxford Dictionaries". Oxford Dictionaries – English. Archived from the original on August 3, 2013.
- ^ "Bombshell Blondes". The Washington Post. 2000-09-15. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2025-08-14.
- ^ Sorokowski, Piotr (2008-06-07). "Attractiveness of blonde women in evolutionary perspective: studies with two Polish samples". Perceptual and Motor Skills. 106 (3): 737–744. doi:10.2466/pms.106.3.737-744. ISSN 0031-5125. PMID 18712194.
- ^ McKnight, Rebecca (2012-11-16). "Irish Men Describe Their 'Perfect Woman'". Her.ie. Retrieved 2025-08-16.
- ^ "The new blonde bombshell". The Guardian. 2001-07-28. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2025-08-16.
- ^ "Scientific study finds that men prefer blondes – Metro US". www.metro.us. 2018-05-31. Retrieved 2025-08-16.
- ^ Allen, Victoria (2018-01-07). "Here's why men prefer blondes". Independent Online. Retrieved 2025-08-14.
- ^ a b Callahan, Dan (17 October 2018). "Get To Know Rita Hayworth, The Reluctant Bombshell". Nylon. Retrieved 2020-09-16. Nylon Magazine
- ^ a b Berman, Eliza. "The Italian Bombshell Who Proved That Life Is About Much More Than Curves". Time. Archived from the original on July 24, 2015.
- ^ "Bombshell". Dictionary.reference.com. Retrieved 2012-08-20.
- ^ a b Jordan, Jessica Hope (2009), The Sex Goddess in American Film, 1930–1965: Jean Harlow, Mae West, Lana Turner, and Jayne Mansfield, Cambria Press, p. 213, ISBN 978-1-60497-663-2
- ^ Bombshell: The Life and Death of Jean Harlow by David Stenn, page 151, 162
- ^ The Guide to United States Popular Culture, 2001, ISBN 0-87972-821-3, p. 922
- ^ Grant David McCracken."Marilyn Monroe, the Inventor of Blondeness", Culture And Consumption II: Markets, Meaning, And Brand Management, page 93, Indiana University Press, 2005, ISBN 978-0-253-34566-0
- ^ Richard Havers, Richard Evans, Marilyn, 2010, ISBN 1-84912-026-9, p. 16.
- ^ a b Katie King and Debra Walker King, Body Politics and the Fictional Double, page 157, Indiana University Press, 2000, ISBN 978-0-253-10832-6
- ^ Rozen, Leah. "The British Marilyn: Blonde Bombshell Diana Dors". BBC America. Retrieved 2020-09-16.
- ^ Nolasco, Stephanie (2020-02-27). "'50s sex symbol Mamie Van Doren on leaving Hollywood after Marilyn Monroe's death: 'There were a lot of drugs'". Fox News. Retrieved 2020-09-16.
- ^ "Brigitte Bardot's Best Bombshell Moments at the Cannes Film Festival". W Magazine | Women's Fashion & Celebrity News. 16 May 2017. Retrieved 2020-09-16.
- ^ a b c d Stephanie Ann Smith (1 January 2006). Household words: bloomers, sucker, bombshell, scab, nigger, cyber. U of Minnesota Press. p. 74. ISBN 978-0-8166-4553-4. Retrieved 13 September 2011.
- ^ Harry M. Benshoff and Sean Griffin, America on Film: Representing Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality at the Movies, page 344, John Wiley & Sons, 2011, ISBN 978-1-4443-5759-2
- ^ The Old-School Beauty Of Anita Ekberg, The Roosevelts, archived from the original on 18 January 2015, retrieved 11 January 2015
- ^ Afshan Jafar and Erynn Masi de Casanova (edited), Global Beauty, Local Bodies, page 73, Palgrave Macmillan, 2013, ISBN 9781137365347