Sons of Anarchy took inspiration from real-life motorcycle clubs, their rules, lifestyle, and more, and while many elements were accurate, there’s one that has been bothering those who know well how MCs work: Gemma’s role in the club. Created by Kurt Sutter, Sons of Anarchy premiered on FX in 2008 and lived on for a total of seven seasons, coming to an end in 2014. The series was very well received throughout its whole run, with critics and viewers praising its story, themes, and the performances of the main cast.
Sons of Anarchy tells the story of Jackson “Jax” Teller (Charlie Hunnam), VP of the motorcycle club Sons of Anarchy in Charming, California. The events of the series begin when Jax finds a manifesto written by his late father, John Teller, one of the founding members of the MC, in which he shared his plans and vision for the club. These were very different from those of the current President and Jax’s stepfather, Clay Morrow (Ron Perlman), sending Jax on a personal journey that makes him question his path, role in the club, relationships, family, and more, and with that comes a lot of conflict and drama. In order to better portray the lifestyle of motorcycle clubs, Sutter counted on the help of real-life members of MCs like the Hells Angels, but even with all that help, there’s something the series didn’t get quite right.
One of the strongest characters in Sons of Anarchy was Gemma Teller-Morrow (Katey Sagal), Jax’s mother and Clay’s wife, whose role was that of the matriarch of the club. Although she wasn’t a member of the club, she was very influential and manipulated Clay and Jax into making certain decisions and taking the club on the path that best fitted her own interests. But Gemma’s role in the club, as empowering as it might be to some, doesn’t reflect that of women in real-life MCs. Just like in Sons of Anarchy, women can’t join traditional motorcycle clubs and are seen as “property” of patched members. They can party and hang out with the club, as seen in the show, and some clubs have an auxiliary one for women, though that doesn’t offer them any privileges into the MC itself. Because of this, many have pointed out how unrealistic Gemma’s role in Sons of Anarchy was, and that she would have been “taken back and ‘corrected’” right away and as many times as necessary.
Some sources have added that women affiliated with motorcycle clubs and gangs are also “generally forced into prostitution or street-level trafficking”, something that not even Clay would have dared to do to Gemma, nor would she have allowed it. Others have revealed that “brutality to women is accepted and sometimes encouraged” in MCs, and some are sometimes “pimped out” by their partners to support their MC lifestyle. Domestic violence was addressed in Sons of Anarchy on different occasions, and Gemma was at the center of it when Clay beat her in season 4 after Gemma learned Piney was killed and Tara was almost kidnapped. Although many real-life “old ladies” have said that what is shown on TV (whether in Sons of Anarchy or other shows) is a lie and they are treated with respect, that’s not the case in every MC, and many other women have confirmed that they have to be submissive and there’s a lot of aggression and misogyny, making it even clearer that a woman like Gemma would never fit in.
Gemma is one of the most memorable characters from Sons of Anarchy and the source of many conflicts, of which some led to the deaths of members of SAMCRO, as was the case of Clay, Bobby, and Jax. Even though Gemma’s role in the club doesn’t match that of women in real-life motorcycle clubs, it’s impossible to imagine Gemma Teller-Morrow as a submissive woman or the show without her.