Is mom still doing your laundry!? In episode 91 of Overthink, Ellie and David explore the twisty world of mommy issues, from the OG mother Mary to today’s seducing MILFs. They look into psychonalytic theories of the mom-child bond, paying close attention to ways these theories have been challenged and expanded in the 20th century. They also discuss Simone de Beauvoir’s critique of maternal devotion by diving into some its most extreme, and problematic, manifestations. Your hosts ask: Is it true that mothers identify more easily with their children of the same gender? Do macho men and wimpy boys sexualize their mothers in similar ways? And of course: who’s the biggest mama’s boy of them all?

Check out the episode's extended cut here!

Works Discussed
Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex and The Ethics of Ambiguity
Nancy Chodorow, The Reproduction of Mothering
Michelle Dean, "Dee Dee Wanted Her Daughter To Be Sick, …"
Jacques Derrida, Reflections on the Mother Tongue
Sigmund Freud, The Freud Reader
Donald Winnicott, The Good Enough Parent
Don Jon (2013)
MILF Manor (2023)

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Mommy Issues