Mother's boy, also commonly and informally mummy's boy or mama's boy, is a term for a man seen as having an unhealthy dependence on his
mother
]
A mother is the female parent of a child. A woman may be considered a mother by virtue of having given birth, by raising a child who may or may not be her biological offspring, or by supplying her ovum for fertilisation in the case of ges ...
at an age at which he is expected to be self-reliant (e.g. live on his own, be economically independent). Use of this phrase is first attested in 1901. The term mama's boy has a connotation of
Effeminacy, effeminacy and weakness. The counter term, for women, would be ''
daddy's girl
In neo-Freudian psychology, the Electra complex, as proposed by Carl Jung in his ''Theory of Psychoanalysis'', is a girl's psychosexual competition with her mother for possession of her father. In the course of her psychosexual development, the ...
'' (see
Electra complex
In neo-Freudian psychology, the Electra complex, as proposed by Carl Jung in his ''Theory of Psychoanalysis'', is a girl's psychosexual competition with her mother for possession of her father. In the course of her psychosexual development, the ...
) also possibly involving a
father complex
Father complex in psychology is a complex—a group of unconscious associations, or strong unconscious impulses—which specifically pertains to the image or archetype of the father. These impulses may be either positive (admiring and seeking out ...
.
In Japan, this relationship is called a , often shortened to , in a way similar to "
brocon" and "
siscon
Sister complex (Japanese: ) is a state of strong attachment and obsession to sisters. It is commonly abbreviated as "siscon" (Japanese: ), and in this case, it is also used for brothers and sisters who have a strong attachment and obsession to the ...
".
In classical Freudian
psychoanalytic
PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: + . is a set of theories and therapeutic techniques"What is psychoanalysis? Of course, one is supposed to answer that it is many things — a theory, a research method, a therapy, a body of knowledge. In what might ...
theory, the term
Oedipus complex
The Oedipus complex (also spelled Œdipus complex) is an idea in psychoanalytic theory. The complex is an ostensibly universal phase in the life of a young boy in which, to try to immediately satisfy basic desires, he unconsciously wishes to hav ...
denotes a child's
desire to have sexual relations with the parent of the opposite sex.
Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating pathologies explained as originating in conflicts ...
wrote that a child's identification with the same-sex parent is the successful resolution of the Oedipus complex.
[Joseph Childers, Gary Hentzi eds. ''Columbia Dictionary of Modern Literary and Cultural Criticism'' (New York: Columbia University Press, 1995)] This theory came into the
popular consciousness in America in the 1940s, when sociologists and psychiatrists posited that mothers who were either too close or too distant could hamper the psycho-social development of male children, causing any number of conditions.
See also
*
Human bonding
Human bonding is the process of development of a close, interpersonal relationship between two or more people. It most commonly takes place between family members or friends, but can also develop among groups, such as sporting teams and whenever ...
*
Norman Bates
Norman Bates is a fictional character created by American author Robert Bloch as the main antagonist in his 1959 thriller novel '' Psycho''. He has an alter, Mother, who takes from the form of his abusive mother, and later victim, Norma, wh ...
– fictional serial killer codependent on his mother
*
Jewish mother stereotype
Stereotypes of Jews are generalized representations of Jews, often caricatured and of a prejudiced and antisemitic nature.
Common objects, phrases and traditions which are used to emphasize or ridicule Jewishness include bagels, the complaini ...
References
Male stock characters
Motherhood
Pejorative terms for men
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