"You'll turn him into a mummy's boy"

[FairfaxAikman]

Why is this said as if that's automatically a bad thing?
What's wrong with a boy wanting to be around his mother?
To me it sounds like a sneering judgement on a woman's parenting.

Isn't it more of raising a boy to depend on his mother (then his wife in turn). If so I think men should be equal to women in this respect. Instead many turn into a man child which is highly unattractive.

I was speaking to somebody the other day (she was complaining that she was late home from work), and proclaimed "my poor husband hadn't even had his tea". I wondered wtf the husband needed his wife to cook his tea

In this case the person making the statement was expressing distaste at a young child cuddling their mother.

The only answer to that is “don’t be ridiculous”

It's up there with "man up" and "boys dont cry". Embarrassing guff to come out with and if that woman in the pp was appalled that her husband hadn't had his tea because she wasn't there to make it well that too is their business. She might like having him (pretend to be) so dependent on her.

It used to be another way of saying you’ll make him gay.

It's used all the time as a term of abuse on MN.
Someone on the Feminist Board claimed there were no, specific to men, terms of abuse. Mummy's boy is the obvious example. It is also blaming the mother in some way for having a relationship with her son.

I also think there is a body of research that shows parents are much less likely to be affectionate with their sons than with daughters and many are reluctant to comfort a boy when upset compared to girls.

I don't recall it being used in the 'gay' sense even several decades ago.

More that he'd be a sissy, a cry-baby, 'tied to his mother's apron strings'.
Nowadays I'd think of the man-child, whose mother is still his cooking/washing/ironing slave until he leaves home - if he ever does.

But as for using it against cuddling a child, to use a quaint old word, that is balderdash. And poppycock, too.

I’m nearly 60 and ‘mummy’s boy’ was definitely a euphemism for gay when I was young. I heard it used to describe my cousin who was very gentle and sensitive, was close to his mum and who was (and is) gay. Even though we children didn’t actually know homosexuality existed we knew that being called a ‘mummy’s boy’ meant he wasn’t considered a ‘proper’ boy and that it was an insulting thing to call him.

It was a ridiculous concept back then and is still ridiculous now.

I get this with my toddler. Apparently he's a mummy's boy because he was breastfed and co-sleeps. He's now going through a phase of separation anxiety so relatives feel that their fears have been confirmed. Bollocks to them. I love cuddling my boy and I'll be damned if I'm going to let judgey comments stop me!

Ah well in that case my big 14 yo ds is definitely a Mummy's boy. He still gives me a big cuddle to say goodnight and will always tell me he loves me even in front of his mates!

There’s being close to your Mother then there’s being completely dependent on her, even in adulthood and that’s the issue I think. It’s fine being close to your Mum but you need independence away from her after about the age of four I’d say.

I say this because my Uncle is in his fifties and still heavily reliant on my DGM. He moves in with her every time he falls out with his GF and she has done his washing his entire adult life. When he lives with her she does all of his cooking too and tiptoes around during the day so she doesn’t wake him (he works nights). It’s ludicrous.