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The Mama's Boy Myth: Why Keeping Our…
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The Mama's Boy Myth: Why Keeping Our Sons Close Makes Them Stronger (edition 2012)

by Kate Stone Lombardi

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2710858,287 (4.17)1
Mothers get the message early and often--push your sons away. Don't "baby" them with too much cuddling and comforting. Don't keep them emotionally bound to you, because boys need to learn to stand on their own. It is as if there were a playbook--based on gender preconceptions dating back to Freud, Oedipus, and beyond--that prescribes how mothers and their sons should interact. Journalist Kate Stone Lombardi persuasively argues that much of the entrenched "wisdom" is outdated. New research reveals that boys who are close to their mothers are happier, more secure, and enjoy stronger connections with their friends and ultimately their spouses. Lombardi shares revealing interviews with mothers--and fathers and sons--who are pushing back against the old prohibition, and argues that the rise of the new male--more emotionally intelligent and more sensitive without being less "manly"--is directly attributable to women who are rejecting the "mama's boy" taboo.--From publisher description.… (more)
Member:Mintypink
Title:The Mama's Boy Myth: Why Keeping Our Sons Close Makes Them Stronger
Authors:Kate Stone Lombardi
Info:Avery (2012), Hardcover, 336 pages
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The Mama's Boy Myth: Why Keeping Our Sons Close Makes Them Stronger by Kate Stone Lombardi

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This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.
I found Kate Lombardi's book to be an interesting read. I think that it was fairly well researched, and an interesting assessment of some of our cultures gender politics. I would agree that a close relationship between a mother and son does not automatically make the son into a "sissy" or a weaker man. I think that it is an interesting conversation starter, but not entirely relevant across our society. Some of us have gotten beyond these antiquated ideas of our parents and grandparents already. ( )
  bluelotus28 | Aug 24, 2013 |
This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.
The Mama’s Boy Myth (Avery)
By Kate Stone Lombardi

This book seeks to take a cultural negative—the idea that a man is a “mama’s boy”—and turn it into a positive. After all, the book’s subtitle is “Why Keeping Our Sons Close Makes Them Stronger.” Lombardi sites numerous studies to make the case for the ways in which boys growing up with a strong relationship with their mothers is good for boys, families, and society at large.

However, she seems to be making it from a defensive position, battling hard against social pressures that I, at least, was not aware of. She returns again and again to the idea that mothers are pressured to abandon their sons lest they smother the boys’ masculinity; this feels very much of another time, and is not reflected in the lives of any of the men and boys I know. Perhaps this is simply a problem I’ve been blind to, but it feels like the author is making a mountain out a molehill, at the expense of more interesting information.

If you are a mom, and you have a son, and you feel like society wants you to push him away, this book will give you ample evidence and emotional support. But for me, Lombardi’s thesis felt worn, threadbare, and undersold. ( )
  asbooks | Oct 20, 2012 |
This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.
A recent Salon article exposed the recent trend toward gender selection in the US, a practice outlawed in many other countries. Most American women prefer daughters over sons, and it's not hard to see why: girls are perceived as nicer, more gentle, more artistic, and more likely to remain supportive throughout the parents' lives.

In "The Mama's Boy Myth," Kate Lombardi demonstrates the falsehood of those assumptions and many more. She begins with the revelation that many moms are close to their sons - but are ashamed or secretive about it, fearing cultural backlash. She debunks the commonly held belief that "strong male role models," especially connected dads, are essential to raising a boy into a "man," a critique frequently leveled against single moms and lesbian parents. (Not that there's anything wrong with dads, but mothers can do the job, too.) Unfortunately, this expectation actually causes mothers of sons to stay in bad marriages all too often - the statistical information here is mind-boggling.

The history Lombardi explores is sure to fascinate. Did you know that mothers have been blamed for nearly every problem men have ever had? Mothers of the WWII generation were blamed because their sons were "sissies," i.e., not as interested in fighting a war as physicians thought they were supposed to be.

In addition to outlining the problem, Lombardi goes to great lengths to detail possible remedies to the situation. It's already happening, in fact, but the cultural fears surrounding close mother-son relationships are still in place and will need a lot of shaking up to disappear completely. ( )
  natasharenee07 | Oct 3, 2012 |
This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.
An interesting read, given the stigma of 'mama's boys', showing the positives and further implications. However, if there is a man in your life that is close with his mother, much of this may come as no surprise. This is a great book for those who are interested in gender politics and the growth of gender identity from youth. A good edition, but for most, does not add to much revelation. ( )
  twistingthelens | Jul 3, 2012 |
"What today's mothers are doing for their sons -- primarily teaching them emotional intelligence -- is a critically important gift. Mothers, by affording their sons the emotional closeness that they once offered only to daughters, are giving them access to a fuller experience of humanity." (p.9-10)

My husband said a similar thing to me on our Spring Break vacation with our two boys, ages 17 and 20. I had been experiencing some loss as my youngest had followed his oldest into classes at the community college, leaving me without the job of homeschooling after 14 years at the helm.

Those years brought me daily contact with my boys, doing history, science, literature, and read-alouds on our couch until their middle school years. These academic subjects were segues into deep talks about everything under the sun.

In their high school years, their education was more self-directed, but I still interacted with them over papers and literature they were reading for the British, American, and Homeric literature classes I ran with other homeschoolers in our co-op. They were segues into the realm of values, principles, and feelings in this rhetoric stage of their education and development.

In addition, our rides in the car to co-op activities, plays, field-trips, and community service projects were the "car talk" times Lombardi talks about in her book. Many times there were other kids in the car with us and not technically "one on one," but I had many "sons" those years of homeschooling and was a second mom to them.

There has been a closeness with my kids because of homeschool, and I will never regret our decision to do so. Our discussions were not just about academic subjects but springboards into deep discussions about life, and we laughed together a TON. Weekday mornings were "our" time.

Last fall, all the time together that homeschool afforded was gone, and I realized this loss on that Spring Break trip.

I won't go into all the reasons, totally unrelated to my kids, why I was emotionally fragile on that trip, but the fragility caused me to express that loss to my boys. We didn't have the time "carved out" for us like before, and I missed it. With encouragement from my husband, I ran the idea of a weekly "talk time" with each of them, and they were all for it.

Since Spring Break, I have spent time with both of them. On Mondays, the youngest and I walk to the local Wendy's, eat dinner (while dad has a meeting and oldest has class), and walk back. I let him set the agenda for what we talk about. The first time, he opened up to me about many deep things. I thought the time would be over when we were back home, but he stuck around, and we talked in our living room until dad and oldest got back, at which time we all talked together until late into the evening.

My oldest is much quieter, and I find that walking is what gets him talking. So, we do the "hospital hill" two mile walk that takes us about 40 minutes, and I don't have an agenda, I just listen and let him run the topics. Since he is naturally quieter, I thought we might walk in silence if I didn't ask questions, but this hasn't been the case.

I heard Lombardi's NPR April 8th interview on "All Things Considered" only eleven days after having this Spring Break ephiphany and a few "talk times" with my guys. Perfect timing!

Lombardi's book confirmed what I had felt. It is funny that she should talk about Freud's Oedipus Complex because I reported on The Interpretation of Dreams, Freud's 1899 publication that put forth this theory, in my first counseling class in graduate school. I also read Oedipus when my oldest studied classical literature. So, I really tracked with her on the ridiculousness of Freud's theories that have been debunked with modern research.

As I read, I thought about different books I had read throughout graduate school (I have an M.Ed. in student personal work with an emphasis in counseling psychology) when I researched male/female roles during my internship with the women's center on the Oregon State University campus. No sooner did I think of the book, when she would quote from it. So, I felt like I tracked well with the book. She put careful thought into her research. Bravo for her.

My only hesitation in recommending this book is her liberal, feminist leanings that I do not share. Her writing on sexuality is so not where I would even fathom or entertain in my relationship with my boys. While trying to be funny in her opening on this subject, I found it crude and distasteful. It was only a few paragraphs. So, I skipped it.

Another hesitation, toward the end of the book, she had quite a bit to say and research to prove her case about the value of working moms in raising boys to the exclusion of explaining the benefits of stay-at-home moms. I have read research to the contrary. I think there is poor mothering with both stay-at-home and working moms, and I don't necessarily think one is more superior than the other, and she definitely shows her bias since she is a working mom (contributing columnist with the New York Times). She is leaving out the growing population of mothers who are staying home with their kids with her working mom bias, almost dismissing them by ignoring them.

Also, throughout the whole book she is trying to make a point about throwing away the stereotypes of what is truly masculine and feminine, but she gives us this, up front, caveat on p. 14:

"Also, my son, a young man now, is more than six feet tall, plays ice hockey has many male friends and a steady girlfriend. Why do I feel the need to tell you this? Because in this culture, I must reassure you -- and myself -- that my deep emotional bond with my son hasn't compromised his masculinity. Look -- he and his mom have this tight connection and my son is still "a guy's guy."

She defeats one of the main points of her book before she even starts with this statement IMHO. My kids don't play sports (even though they were raised by a mom and dad who were both college athletes) or have a steady girlfriend. Where does this statement leave me if my kids aren't "guy's guys"? Think about it Ms. Lombardi: can you see how this statement nullifies the whole point of your book? Perhaps you are insecure about this despite the research?

But I won't throw the baby out with the bath water because it was confirmation of my gut about the time I have spent investing in my boys. ( )
1 vote Carolfoasia | Apr 29, 2012 |
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Mothers get the message early and often--push your sons away. Don't "baby" them with too much cuddling and comforting. Don't keep them emotionally bound to you, because boys need to learn to stand on their own. It is as if there were a playbook--based on gender preconceptions dating back to Freud, Oedipus, and beyond--that prescribes how mothers and their sons should interact. Journalist Kate Stone Lombardi persuasively argues that much of the entrenched "wisdom" is outdated. New research reveals that boys who are close to their mothers are happier, more secure, and enjoy stronger connections with their friends and ultimately their spouses. Lombardi shares revealing interviews with mothers--and fathers and sons--who are pushing back against the old prohibition, and argues that the rise of the new male--more emotionally intelligent and more sensitive without being less "manly"--is directly attributable to women who are rejecting the "mama's boy" taboo.--From publisher description.

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