Camilla often get a lot of criticism for being a βpick meβ and only having male friends, which is odd because itβs not her fault that sheβs the only girl in the class - is she not supposed to bond with her classmates? Often characters such as Judy and Marion are brought up. Judy is a fun character, to be sure, but she threw a beer in Camillaβs face, so it makes sense that she isnβt her biggest fan. Marion hates Camilla but we donβt know why, I have always assumed she was perhaps wary of her because she is friendly with Bunny (who admits that Camilla is pretty), but who knows.
There is a moment mentioned by Richard as he outlines Bunnyβs temper tantrums, in which he says βan acquaintance at the Early Childhood Centre told Camilla that one day at work, Marion had called Bunny six times and the last time he had hung up on her.β The Early Childhood Centre is where Marion works, so I assume this βacquaintanceβ is female. Nothing more is said about this, but it is still a glimpse of Camilla having some kind of interaction with a woman outside of the group, a woman who shares a space with Marion, who is portrayed as her opposite, by Bunny.
Another moment I think of with Camilla and women, is when she defends Mrs Corcoran. Charles talks about how awful she is, how she raised Bunny to be greedy, he blames his behaviour on her, then Camilla cuts in with βthatβs Mr Corcoranβs fault too.β Itβs a small moment, but she points out Mr Corcoranβs role in raising Bunny. This moment also makes me wonder how many other situations there may have been like this. Situations where the boys discuss another woman or girl, negatively, in front of Camilla. This moment shows that she has an urge to defend a woman, which can be tough when youβre the only woman / girl in a space because you can easily be shut down and labelled emotional, a man hater, told βitβs not that deepβ etc
