Razor Girl
A character-type that appears in Cyberpunk. Razor Girls are basically action-heroines, usually with the sexiness and badassedry cranked up to the Nth degree.
The name comes from the original razor girl, Molly, of William Gibson's cyberpunk novel "Neuromancer" (often considered the original cyberpunk book). Molly is referred to as a "razor girl" and a "steppn' razor" by other characters, due to the retractable razor claws she has stored under her fingernails (to name only one of her badass cyborg upgrades).
Other examples of razor girls include Trinity from "The Matrix;" Major Kusanagi of "Ghost in the Shell;" Avalon and Lea Prism of the novel "Hammerjack;" and the lead characters of "Barb Wire," "Aeon Flux," and "Ultraviolet."
Mind you, a razor girl is not just any awesome female character who happens to be in a cyberpunk story. She has to meet that level of viciousness and badass. Rachel from "Blade Runner" is a fantastic character and a strong woman, but she is not a fighter, and thus is not a razor girl. Same goes for Shiloh, Blind Mag, and all the other awesome-but-not-action-fighter girls from "Repo: The Genetic Opera!" Neal Stephenson's Y.T., despite being one of the most awesome characters in all of fiction, never mind cyberpunk, also just barely misses to meet the criteria, since her shtick is more about escaping and dodging danger than confronting bad guys head-on.
The name comes from the original razor girl, Molly, of William Gibson's cyberpunk novel "Neuromancer" (often considered the original cyberpunk book). Molly is referred to as a "razor girl" and a "steppn' razor" by other characters, due to the retractable razor claws she has stored under her fingernails (to name only one of her badass cyborg upgrades).
Other examples of razor girls include Trinity from "The Matrix;" Major Kusanagi of "Ghost in the Shell;" Avalon and Lea Prism of the novel "Hammerjack;" and the lead characters of "Barb Wire," "Aeon Flux," and "Ultraviolet."
Mind you, a razor girl is not just any awesome female character who happens to be in a cyberpunk story. She has to meet that level of viciousness and badass. Rachel from "Blade Runner" is a fantastic character and a strong woman, but she is not a fighter, and thus is not a razor girl. Same goes for Shiloh, Blind Mag, and all the other awesome-but-not-action-fighter girls from "Repo: The Genetic Opera!" Neal Stephenson's Y.T., despite being one of the most awesome characters in all of fiction, never mind cyberpunk, also just barely misses to meet the criteria, since her shtick is more about escaping and dodging danger than confronting bad guys head-on.
"What the hell do you mean 'The Matrix' isn't cyberpunk? It's got all the tropes you need--the virtual reality, the black leather, the sunglasses, the hacker heroes, the evil corporate dudes, and the razor girls!"
Razor Girl by The Chickens Are Revolting December 5, 2014
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