Mae West: The Original Blonde Bombshell

This post is written in conjunction with Classic Chops - Blonde Bombshells, hosted by The LAMB.

Mae West made some of the raciest films of the studio era, single-handedly necessitating the instigation of censorship in the motion picture industry. This voluptuous blonde almost exclusively played over-sexed madams on screen, but her golden tresses did nothing to conceal the capacity of West's active mind.

Feminist Star Personas of Classic Hollywood (other than Katharine Hepburn)

http://feministguidetohollywood.blogspot.com/

Feminist personas of classic Hollywood come in many shapes and sizes. Some, like the great Katharine Hepburn, found profound new ways to represent strong women on the big screen. Others more subtly broke new ground in their private lives. There is no set way to define a feminist icon, but there are some ways you can measure how progressive the stars' personas could be. For one, all of these women are professionals who get paid (a lot) for their talent and hard work. Secondly, stars who were aware of their desire to present a progressive view of women often chose films which would showcase these strengths.