Jax's Old Ladies - Tara Knowles

Tara Knowles, Jax’s Childhood sweetheart, returns to Charming and it is revealed she is victim of domestic abuse and stalking. Jax comes in as the saviour after she kills her ex-boyfriend, the perpetrator. (Sons of Anarchy, 2008) Similarly to Wendy she originally received Significant verbal abuse, mainly from the matriarch Gemma Teller, and it was regularly mentioned that her departure at the age of nineteen ‘all but broke Jax’s heart’ (Sons of Anarchy, 2008). As the club realised how serious the relationship was becoming, they began to warm to the idea of her becoming his ‘ol’ lady’. When she did, she became wildly respected within the ‘family’ and often had members consistently check on her wellbeing and safety. 

This highly contrasts with the claim that women associated with motorcycle clubs were treated like ‘possessions’ and were seen as ‘prostitutes’ or ‘whores’ regardless of whether they were married to a member (Sartore, 2018). However, Tara’s treatment is more reflective of the ‘traditional’ or expected relationship that we have come to know. Perhaps this is a perverse kind of realism for club members, purposefully used to allow the audience to see the life of those associated with motorcycle clubs in a way that they can be related to their own lives. The collision of the two worlds subsequently enables the audience to believe the lifestyle of the characters despite it potentially being inconceivable in their own lives.