This is just an entry in response to some of the comments made in class today.
I thought it was interesting that the new machismo in Neuromancer could be conveyed through "non-badassness." When we discussed ST last week, someone had brought up the fact that Johnny was feminized through his relationship with Flores (additionally, the movie version of Dizzy was also a very masculine female). I thought that the relationship between Molly and Case was similar in the gender role reversal vein. Molly is the brawn and Case is the brain (mind/body relationship?). Furthermore, in conjunction with the Huntington article, Case is the atypical masculine hero in that "Heroic and skillful action for Case takes place a the computer keyboard" (137) rather than through sheer "extraordinary athleticism."
One thing to keep in mind here though is that often on these operations Case sort-of occupies Molly's mind through the simstim, and as such still ends up being in the middle of things. Certainly his involvement is limited - he can't speak or otherwise control her body - but he is able to still gather information and hear her, which he later uses to his slight advantage in the finals scenes against Riviera (pgs 249-250). So in a way, while Molly is doing the actual fighting...Case still has a close relationship with the action taking place.
Whether or not that implies the relationship is not totally reversed in Neuromancer compared to Starship Troopers, the almost physical link Case has to Molly does suggest something more.