As much as I love Sons of Anarchy, one thing has always bugged me: how Tara’s stalker was handled.
Don’t get me wrong. It was super heroic of Jax to kill that motherfucker. And that sex scene after, with the body right in the corner? Smoking hot, even if a little twisted.
But.
But!
Kohn tortured Tara. Terrorized her. Drove her out of her job and home, and then followed her there and continued to toy with her.
As a woman who has had a stalker, I really needed Tara to be the one to kill Kohn.
He was her demon; she should’ve slayed him.
Instead, we got a classic damsel in distress storyline, with Jax saving the day and Tara not at all empowered. You could argue that her character wasn’t the stalker killing type, and maybe you’re right, but it still bugged me.
My stalker wasn’t nearly as deranged as Kohn, but he was scary enough. He seemed benign enough, at first—a photographer in one of my college classes who needed a model. I’d done some modeling for a high school friend, so I jumped at the chance. Then he started talking about shooting me nude, in the woods, so I politely extracted myself.
Or so I thought.
For weeks, he followed me all over campus. It wasn’t a small campus, so at first I tried to convince myself that we just kept running into each other. But I was creeped out, and my gut is never wrong.
He wouldn’t let the shoot go, either.
Thankfully, I had some awesome friends who were more than happy to hover around me like overprotective brothers, and my stalker eventually got the message. I never even had to use my mace. Which was kinda too bad.
Still, when I watched Sons of Anarchy for the first time, I related to Tara quite a bit. Obsessive men are fucking scary. I hoped and hoped Tara would be the one to save herself, and even though I wasn’t surprised when Jax saved her, I was still disappointed.
Years later, when I sat down to write the forbidden biker romance that became A Disturbing Prospect, I knew one thing for sure: my distressed damsel would not be asking her biker boyfriend to handle her problems.
Maybe I’m being stubborn, but I’ve been taking care of myself my whole life. I don’t need Prince Charming to ride in on his motorcycle and shoot down my dragon. I’ve got my own gun. I’ll slay my own monsters.
-Olivia, A Disturbing Prospect (River Reapers MC, Book 1)
Maybe if more of us handled things like Olivia, creepy men would back the fuck off.
No offense, Tara.
Did you know you can pre-order the sequel to A Disturbing Prospect? Click here!
Elizabeth Barone 