Shrews and Cougars Give Bad Advice

Why Young Women Don't Get Advice from their Elders Anymore

Sons of Anarchy is hardly known as a chick show, but strangely enough, the operatic show about an outlaw motorcycle club had some pretty raw moments of psychological truth when it came to women.

The primary female in SoA was Dr. Tara Knowles, a gifted surgeon who returned to Charming and fell back into a relationship with Jackson “Jax” Teller, the club’s vice president and eventual president. Tara was smart, ambitious, and increasingly aware that her love for Jax was pulling her into a life that would eventually consume her. She knew this. She stayed anyway. The show never pretended that was simple.

At the hospital where she worked, Tara’s boss was Margaret Murphy, a prim, stuck-up administrator played by McNally Sagal. Immediately, Margaret is set up as an antagonist. The audience cheers when Gemma Morrow threatens her with physical harm in an elevator). She’s the worst kind of HR harpie, so we don’t feel bad for Margaret. We certainly don’t think her obvious disdain for Tara’s involv…