Sons of Anarchy : A misogynistic of feminist show ?

Last Wednesday we talked about countering women stereotypes with this country music video and I asked myself which image all the shows that I am addicted to give about women. So the first example which appeared in my mind was Sons of Anarchy. In case you haven’t heard of it before, Sons of Anarchy is an American TV serie about a violent motorcycle club in the fictional town of Charming. 

My friends always find it weird that I love this show since all the plot is about this criminal gang which deals guns and makes its own laws, with its strong own culture and family values. But why girls couldn’t be interested in bikers stories? Some people could say that girls don’t have any figures to refer to in such TV shows, but in the case of Sons of Anarchy there are some crucial female characters. In fact, if only 3 or 4 women have an important part in the show, they are strong-willed characters with complex personality and some real problems to deal with. But the complexity of Sons of Anarchy lies in the fact that these important female characters are in opposition with the misogynistic world they’re living in.

In the show, women are often treated as sexual object, they are the “groupies” who can be cheated on as long as their men haven’t decided to make them their “old ladies” (their regular girlfriends or wives). Even the “old ladies” can’t take part of the club’s decisions processes and are just supposed to be housewives waiting for their men to come back home alive (or not). Most of the women in Sons of Anarchy are drug addicts, prostitutes or porn stars. In fact, vice-president and main character Jax Teller decides to invest in a whorehouse because he thinks it is more “legitimate” than selling guns, and everybody seems to welcome this decision as if they were finally doing something right and ethical.

Nevertheless, some women appear to be the most authoritative characters of the show. The first one is Gemma Teller, mother of Jax Teller and Clay Morrow’s old lady, president of the club. Gemma is very calculative and powerful, and she manages to achieve her goals by subtly manipulating all the other characters. She is almost always armed and she doesn’t hesitate to hurt people in order to protect her family. The second central character is Tara Knowles, Jax Teller’s girlfriend, who differs from the stereotypical girls since she’s a brilliant surgeon with a strong temper. During all the seasons she tries to take her family away from the club, she wants to leave Charming and start a new life. Will Jax agree to quit his friends, family and bikers’ culture to live thanks to his wife’s income? It may be a bit too progressive for the Sons of Anarchy…

So I think that Sons of Anarchy is a great example of what struggling against hegemony means. The men struggle against the law, they only obey to their club’s rules, but women fight in their own way as well. They can be violent too, but the most efficient way is by influencing the men without them even knowing it. 

Marie-Jeanne Layec

Picture : http://www.examiner.com/article/sons-of-anarchy-season-6-finale-no-reviving-tara-from-gruesome-bloody-death