Hot Cyberchicks Kicking Butt

Nothing is wrong with the Razorgirls (or “hot chicks kicking butt” as you’ve called them on this site”)! I am a femenist, but I completley disagree with the idea that female action heros are “sexist” just becasuse they have tight suits (how easy would it be for Trinity to run around kicking butts in a hoopskirt, I wonder?) and act like “men” (it’s only a body people, come on!) Most cyberpunk is liberating for women. Yah, I think it’s stupid that Ultraviolet and many of the heroines have to be sexy knock outs in skimpy outfits, but as long as the story doesn’t sugest women are weaker than men (which they don’t) then it is not sexist. (Besides, how much would us women enjoy “Indiana Jones” if it weren’t for those manditory shirtless scenes?) Razorgirls are kick ass!

Hi Switch, while I certainly agree that many “Razorgirls” movies (I’ve never heard that term, BTW) are not sexist, some certainly are. If the woman is depicted as strong and multi-dimensional - Trinity for instance, it’s hard to consider them sexist. However, quite a few are rather shallow, and are only there as a male fantasy. Black Magic M-66 comes to mind as an extreme example, for instance.

beautiful.
A femenist that denies matriarchal discourse!
“Razorgirls” is a reference to Molly from Neuromancer, the original and unashamedly female counter weight to Case’s S.N.A.G.
Yes Switch, i agree with you to a point about the need for a balance, and something the ‘boys’ need to look at, as to say that if the female ‘Razorgirl’s’ in armitage, matrix’s, T3, Metropolis and Aeon Flux were to be tank busters and not the skimpy looking sprites that they are, things would be alot different. Also, SFAM, Trinity is very matronly, and interestingly robotic. The best grey-area in the gender balance in any cyberpunk media has to be Motoko from GiTS and Molly from Gibson’s novels. Both are outwardly masculine, rational, and display qualities attributed to men.
still, i’d have to say that the most sexist thing would have to be the title of the article.

CIAO

how could you leave out Re-l Mayer and Quinn from Ergo Proxy. Both are strong, beautiful characters who dominate during conflict scenes

If they look like Mila Jovovich, Carrie-Ann Moss, Dina Mayer or Michelle Ryan “any time…”

Wow, I *vaguely* remember writing that first comment here! (Sigh, high school…I’m guessing I had a lot of caffine before posting that somewhat hysterical-sounding statement…)

All of you made very good points. (Just thought I’d say so, in case anyone ever stumbles upon this blog again, like I just did!) Especially you SFAM. Sometimes it’s definitly sexist, the way female action heroes are potrayed. But a lot of times it is hard to make a judgement call. (For instance, if the whole movie is silly, then how seriously should sexist stereotypes in it be taken? Of course, if it’s silly to the point of being like “Plan 9″, then any sexism just goes down as another reason to laugh at the film’s stupidity).

Yeah, this is definitly not a black-and-white issue. But it makes for some fun discussions, doesn’t it.