Feminism in Gibson's Neuromancer
Feminism in Gibson’s Neuromancer
Regarded as the beginning of the “cyberpunk” movement, William Gibson’s classic novel Neuromancer, confronts the pronounced societal issues of feminism of the time. By distorting the female traits of his characters, Gibson illustrates that gender equality is only achieved when the female persona is able to transform away from both the desired and rejected feminist attributes imposed by societies fixed gender roles.
Although the Cyberpunks are almost always male, Gibson’s portrayal of the female character, Molly, is quite rare and illustrates the perceptions of women during the time. Quite opposite to the soft and gentle woman Case marries and settles down with, Molly is depicted as a hard assassin and bodyguard. Gibson demonstrates that society is traditionally male dominated as women “stay at home” while men are able to explore the frontiers of technology. The juxtaposition of the “stable” and maternal-like woman a man would typically marry, depicts Molly’s nature as defying the status quo by taking on the masculine association of technology demonstrating the exploration of a woman living in a man’s world. The cyberpunk movement explores the link between human and machines, as seen in the descriptions of Molly which portray the interconnection of the embodiment of humans and machines to depict the role of technology and gender. If cyberpunks are typically male and embrace technology, then in order for Molly to transcend her own gender she must embody technology as Gibson illustrates through her physical characteristics. She is described “look[ing] artificial” with her eyes replaced with mirror like “silver lenses seem[ing] to grow from smooth pale skin above her cheekbones,” (Gibson, 24). Defying the weaker stereotypical female character, Gibson shows that Molly has to be physically changed to give her the needed strength to overcome her gender limitations. There is optimism though as the ability for Molly to not
Regarded as the beginning of the “cyberpunk” movement, William Gibson’s classic novel Neuromancer, confronts the pronounced societal issues of feminism of the time. By distorting the female traits of his characters, Gibson illustrates that gender equality is only achieved when the female persona is able to transform away from both the desired and rejected feminist attributes imposed by societies fixed gender roles.
Although the Cyberpunks are almost always male, Gibson’s portrayal of the female character, Molly, is quite rare and illustrates the perceptions of women during the time. Quite opposite to the soft and gentle woman Case marries and settles down with, Molly is depicted as a hard assassin and bodyguard. Gibson demonstrates that society is traditionally male dominated as women “stay at home” while men are able to explore the frontiers of technology. The juxtaposition of the “stable” and maternal-like woman a man would typically marry, depicts Molly’s nature as defying the status quo by taking on the masculine association of technology demonstrating the exploration of a woman living in a man’s world. The cyberpunk movement explores the link between human and machines, as seen in the descriptions of Molly which portray the interconnection of the embodiment of humans and machines to depict the role of technology and gender. If cyberpunks are typically male and embrace technology, then in order for Molly to transcend her own gender she must embody technology as Gibson illustrates through her physical characteristics. She is described “look[ing] artificial” with her eyes replaced with mirror like “silver lenses seem[ing] to grow from smooth pale skin above her cheekbones,” (Gibson, 24). Defying the weaker stereotypical female character, Gibson shows that Molly has to be physically changed to give her the needed strength to overcome her gender limitations. There is optimism though as the ability for Molly to not