The Posthuman Problematic: Gender Coding the Cyborg

This chapter briefly explores the interconnectedness of Neuromancer, postmodernism, and critical posthumanism. I’ll then turn to Molly Millions as a problematic figure of the posthuman, partly because of the divisive responses to her feminist potential. In so doing, Molly’s complicated role as a cyborg and the ensuing critical reception of this character offer different ways of thinking about the posthuman, particularly concerning gender roles in our cybernetic future-present. As a result, the chapter concludes that Molly may be less a figure of the posthuman than a figure of the post/human, a term I’ll unpack in the next chapter after turning to Case, the novel’s other protagonist.