Autumn Razzi-Madden
ENG 2150
Dr. Blankenship
3/08/16
Paper 1: Rhetorical Analysis of a Cultural Artifact

Dear Dr. Blankenship and Writer’s Group,
I am analyzing the television series Sons of Anarchy. I am analyzing it from the rhetorical aspect of how women in the show are treated, perceived, how a male writer is depicting women, and what it means for women in society today. The title for my paper is ‘Sons of Anarchy: Women from the perspective of male writers – Misogyny or Feminism?’ I chose this topic because I wanted to write about a work of fiction that I truly enjoy, that is complete, and that I think has a lot of substance and messages, and frankly, something that has a lot of flaws. My process in writing this draft was to first just jot down ideas, as many ideas as I could in bullet points. First I just used my opinions on the show, and on women in the show. Then I looked at it from all angles and opinions, the misogynistic opinion, the feminist opinion, and the somewhat neutral opinion. Next I grabbed these ideas, and dropped them in appropriate sections, under intro, Paragraphs 1,2,3 etc. and conclusion. Then I began to write, in actual sentences. My thesis is that the male writer of the show failed to write a progressive storyline for any of the women in the show and this is damaging to women in society because it does not send a message of equality. I support my thesis by providing significant evidence from the show, comparing this to men’s involvement on the show, and people’s opinions on these events. I organized these by first introducing people to the plight of the women of the show, and how they treat each other in this way as well. Then I apply some analytical tests to see if the women on the show are portrayed as being independent from the men in any way by having some demonstrated thought process that does not directly or indirectly involve a man. I then give specific examples of things that have happened to the women of the show, and how it was the direct consequence of something that their partners, sons or friends have done. The audience in my mind as I am writing is my professor, my peers, and also fellow women and men who may agree with me, or people who’s minds I have yet to change. The biggest challenge is due to the broadness of a television series and the abstract nature of the ideas being represented it was difficult to represent these ideas through a structured analysis, and present it step by step. What I think is going well is the amount of content in the paper. I feel that I have a lot of knowledge on the subject, and being a woman it may be easier for me to see when women are being misrepresented than if I were a man, simply because I live it. I also enjoy the show and I think passion I very important. What I think needs more work is the organization. I have many ideas and opinions and I compare and contrast but I feel as though it may be difficult for readers to go paragraph by paragraph and sum up the main idea of each individual paragraph. I would like some help in grouping certain ideas together to better represent my piece. Some questions I have for you when you read are: Is it enjoyable to read? Does it feel like work? Is it confusing? What should I focus on more? What was your favorite part? What should I take out? Please keep in mind this is a rough draft, however all comments are appreciated. Thank you all.

Sons of Anarchy: Women from the perspective of male writers – Misogyny or Feminism?

Sons of Anarchy is a guilty pleasure of mine. I use the term guilty pleasure because although it is not a cheesy, low budget, or frivolous show, that has received with great reviews, I say it because I am a woman. My being a female viewer of the show says a great deal about how I view it. It is a biker show, about biker dudes, and their biker bromances, and the ensuing shenanigans. The characters are not just your typical macho, hyper-masculine, show no emotion types. There are many, many, moments in the show that are truly heartfelt between the male members. There does not seem to be a trace of homophobia, or fear of looking vulnerable when it comes to feelings and closeness. So with this progressive attitude towards the male characters and their relationships in the show, one wonders where the writers went wrong in terms of female roles in the series.
The women of Sons progressively turn more and more sour as the series goes on, and by the series close, are almost unrecognizable from their origins. Women on the show are mostly portrayed as somewhat depraved characters. Even if they start out as ‘respectable’ people, they soon turn to delinquency. This obviously has a great deal to do with the women’s involvement with ‘the club’ as it is referenced to in the show. Getting involved with the Sons is like falling into quicksand; you just sink deeper and deeper in to your own demise and if you struggle or fight back you will only sink that much faster. The men in the show often make disparaging remarks against women. Calling them sluts, whores, bitches, you name it. Some women are even reserved only for sex by the members, and would never be taken seriously. This misogyny spreads to internalized misogyny. The men of the show are not the only ones guilty of this crime. The women themselves call each other sluts, bitches and whores. The women with the more ‘respectable’ professions look down on other women in the show such as sex workers or porn stars, and don’t even want them around. Any other women who is sleeping with one of the guys that isn’t a ‘regular’ is treated with immense disrespect and disposability. The highest form of honor or dignity that a woman can seemingly achieve in the world of Sons of Anarchy is to be deemed an ‘old lady’. An old lady is the wife or steady girlfriend of a club member. These women tend to have the most say or influence in the show and on the men, and they don’t let anyone else forget it. This is another example of the sexism present, seeing how the highest honor or status a woman can achieve on the show is only with respect to a man’s position, and her status in his life. The women in the show are completely okay with this.
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In the above image of the main characters of the show, we can observe the image and look for rhetorical symbols. Everything has rhetoric. Gemma, a prominent female character on the show, is actually given some serious important and respect by being placed front and center. However, they have her kneeling on the floor, while the men stand. Even as she is the focal point, and quite possibly the glue that kept the club together for many seasons, she is second to the men. Tara, on the far left, is another prominent female of the show. As Jax’s girlfriend, she sits on the back on his bike, holding on to him. While they are certainly lovers in the show this depiction makes it hard to envision Tara as a separate entity from Jax. In the show, Gemma and Tara are portrayed as strong, independent women, but are they really? A lot of Gemma and Tara’s intelligence and fierceness comes off as a good effort from the male writer, Kurt Sutter, to create fleshed out, layered, strong female characters. It often comes up short when it comes to their actions, their dialogue, their treatment by others, and their thoughts on other women. While I do think some of the sexism was unintentional, there is definitely an element of masculine power and brotherhood in the series that thrived on male camaraderie; and while this can definitely be a show for women, it has never been a show about women.
While the Rhetorical Situation is the rhetorical analysis that I think relates least to the show, I wanted to look at the show from all perspectives. In the case of women in Sons the exigence may very well be violence, extreme and total violence, and what happens to when women get too involved in a lifestyle where the male reigns supreme. The audience, technically, is millions of viewers. However, the audience that Kurt Sutter had in mind may have been specifically white males. The show is about men, so it appeals to men, but also women. In today’s world, a show about men is just a show, but a show about women is a ‘chick show’. When men are the default, both genders can be interested. The Sons is a racially exclusive club, meaning white men only. They do business with many other gangs of other colors, including ‘the Chinese’, the Mexican Mayans, and the Black Niners. The constraints would be the one hour time limit per episode, and the fact that they know many males would be watching. Knowing males will be watching, of any color, could lean to some of the more gratuitous sex and violence, also known as ‘fan service’.
There is something called the Bechdel test that gives a three prong analysis about women in cinema and television. The first requirement is that there must be at least two women in a work of fiction. The second is, do the two or more women interact? Do they talk to each other? The third is if they do talk, do they talk about anything other than a man? According to statistics, only about half of all films meet this requirement. It is used to indicate the active presence of women in works of fiction and to point out sexism. So where does Sons stack up with the Bechdel test? It very narrowly passes. Throughout the entire series the women that talk to each other only talk about men. When I realized this, I almost could not believe it. Six seasons of women and their only discussion pique was about men. That is, with one exception. The only other thing that women on the show who speak to each other speak about other than men, are children. There is a great deal of discussion about children. They talk about caring for the children, custody of the children, the children’s safety, who can and cannot see them.
When researching for this paper I took multiple approaches, to see the show from all angles. I wanted to see views from people who agreed that the show had many sexist tones. I wanted to see views from people who thought that the show was secretly feminist, or maybe even overtly feminist. Also, I simply wanted to see what happened when I searched Sons of Anarchy – keyword: Women. It was a hot topic. Many argue that Sons isn’t as sexist as people crack it up to be. I will admit it has some redeeming moments. But I’m not convinced. The women in Sons have no real say in any of the decisions being made by the men. Yet the women are some of the people who suffer the most from these decisions. In the first season, Opie Winston’s wife Donna was shot and killed by a member of the club accidentally. Donna had been driving the car of the intended victim, and an innocent life was loft. She left two children behind. Prior to the incident she had been begging Opie to step away from the club for safety reasons, but as usual, the club wins. Gemma, the mother of Jax Teller, wife of club president Clay Morrow, was raped. Gemma was raped as a warning to the other club members to stop doing business with a certain group of people. Gemma doesn’t tell the guys for a long time, insisting that the perpetrators plan would have only worked like they planned if she did. Even Gemma puts the needs of the club before herself. She was used as a pawn in the game, a way to hurt the club. Tara, wife of Jax teller, was kidnapped and almost murdered multiple times, until her death at the hands of another woman, Gemma (but more on that later). A club member’s daughter was burned alive in front of him as revenge. The list goes on, and on.
If we examine Sons under Aristotelian Appeals we come to the Ethos, Pathos, Logos triad. The Ethos, or credibility is writer Kurt Sutter. Kurt Sutter has worked on various televious programs, and to the average American, we have a certain amount of respect for what makes it onto televison, specifically to be successful programs. When someone raves about a show to you, you watch it, and you try to appreciate things about the show. What makes it so great? Sometimes you see it, sometimes you don’t, but either way you are listening. The fact that we listen so intently shows credibility. Also, in the fictional world of the show, the gang themselves are a take no prisoners live by our own rules sort who demand to be listened to. Whether we think they are despicable or not many of us still root for them. Pathos appeals to your emotions. Kurt Sutter is no stranger to emotions. Many character deaths and unfortunate situations have led to heartbreaking episodes. Many of these men show real human moments, breaking down, being vulnerable, asking for help, and defending their women and children. These moments redeem them in our eyes for the time being. They aren’t that bad right? Similar to Apple’s 1984 commercial, Sons uses Pathos quite a lot to its advantage. While Sons gets an hour a week while this commercial got about a minute, it is still mostly visual cues and things represented then explicitly stated. The Logos appeals to our intelligence. Throughout the show whenever disaster strikes they place the perpetrators in a situation to have a reasonable motive to be hurting these women, or maybe it was just an accident. So much so that you don’t even realize the damage the women of this show have gone through until you sit down to think about it. There’s not to say many men haven’t also lost their lives or been horrible disfigured throughout the series. However many if not most of these men have had some hand in their fate. They hurt someone else, someone got revenge, they got into a fight, or it was just club disputes. However most of the women on the show were bystanders, who don’t have a say in the decisions that the club makes, and they suffer the consequences on their behalf.
In this show it is very clear that women are afterthoughts. Sure the more prominent women get special treatment but its pretty far from being able to vote at the table with the members. If this was just an innocent guys club, for guys to hang out and enjoy their motorcycles and some beers, I would in no way have an issue with men only members rule. It is so much more than that. It is dangerous, and it is bigger than just the members. People’s families are involved. Their lives are in danger. Not only are the women not allowed to contribute to decisions but they are also incredibly sexualized. There has not been a woman on the show who has been introduced without someone trying to sleep with her. In one season, a club member Jax Teller, almost sleeps with his half sister (unbeknownst to him) before being stopped by their parents. Awkward yes, but mostly an eye rolling moment. Of course Jax would meet his half sister and try to sleep with her. It could have been any woman. Seemingly no one is spared. Shockingly, the violence against the women does not only come from outside sources. At one point in the series, Clay Morrow beats his wife Gemma Teller within inches of her life. This domestic dispute came about because Gemma had discovered some activities that Clay had been secretly planning and participating in. Now to be fair, this was no accepted behavior by anyone on the show. Every single person who found out was disgusted and agreed it was horrible; yet Clay is still a character, written by Kurt Sutter, causing severe harm yet again. As the series came to a close, the ultimate an finale acts of violence brought down the two strongest, fiercest, and important female characters on the show. Tara, dies at the hand of Gemma. After years of feuding over custody and visiting rights of Tara’s children (Gemma is the grandmother), fighting over affection of Jax, who is Tara’s husband and Gemma’s son, and fighting over the unspoken position as head female of the club. Upon learning this, after everything that Gemma has done in the series, and after the completely dark character transformation of Jax Teller, he shoots his mother dead. These two women, after everything they had been through, did not make it out of the series alive.
Much like James Bladwin’s ‘Letter to my Nephew’ the show has very personal moments. Because the show is visual, fictional, and depicts many intimate relationships between characters, one can recreate the feelings inflicted upon reading a letter. Much like how Baldwin’s piece was personal, made him more human to us, made him more real to us, let his words touch us, this can be recreated easily in television. There are countless moments on the show that are intimate, important conversations between two characters. There is no one else around, just the two characters, and you. You are let in on a personal moment, like a secret, and it can evoke something within you.
Sons of anarchy, misogyny or feminism? It depends on who you ask. Many modern women, though they may put aside their feelings to enjoy the show, are fully aware of the rampant sexism in the show. Certain other, possible more traditional women, or women with different values may see the women’s lack of decision making ability as okay or normal, or they may not even notice it at all. Some men would say that there are plenty of strong, intelligent women on the show who kick ass; and that there are. Yet it doesn’t change how they are treated, how they treat each other, and the struggles they endure. A television series is hard to analyze because it is so bread, yet because the series has ended, it is now a completed work of fiction, of art, and can be appreciated and analyzed as such. These views on women are not explicitly stated; rather they are shown to us in a visual rhetoric. A rhetoric that seeps into the minds of the audience, that makes you question the position of women’s roles in society today.