The Mama's Boy Myth

A New York Times columnist offers a radical reexamination of a hot button issue and advocates the end of the "mama's boy" taboo.

New York Times columnist Kate Stone Lombardi unveils the surprisingly close relationship between mothers and sons. Mother after mother confessed to Lombardi that her husband, brothers, and even female friends and family criticize the fact that she is "too close" to her sons. It begins when her boys are just babies and never stops. Many of these women are often startled by the strong connection they feel with their sons, but rarely do they talk about it because society tells them to push their little boys away and not "baby" them with too much cuddling and comforting. It is as if there was an existing playbook-based on gender preconceptions dating back to Freud, Oedipus, and beyond-that prescribes the way mothers and their sons should interact.

The fact that boys today face a host of new challenges is an issue that's hotly debated in the media, on mommy-blogs, and on playgrounds across the country. Lombardi's much-needed narrative is the first and only book to share truly revealing interviews with mothers who have close relationships with their sons, as well as interviews with these women's sons, husbands, and daughters. Lombardi persuasively argues that the rise of the new male-one who is more emotionally intelligent and more sensitive without being less "manly"-is directly attributable to women who are rejecting the taboo that a son shouldn't be too close to his mother. Highlighting new scientific studies, Mothers and Sons begins a fresh story-one that will be welcomed by mothers, fathers, and sons alike.

Kate Stone Lombardi has regularly contributed to the New York Times for the last twenty years. Her work has also appeared in Parenting, Money, and Hudson Valley Life. A graduate of Williams College with an MS in journalism from Columbia University, Lombardi is the mother of two adult children and lives in Westchester County, New York, with her husband Michael.

Contact: Lindsay.Gordon@us.penguingroup.com