Does being a "momma's boy" affect your sexual orientation?

Psychologist Kenneth M. Adams, PhD debunks the myth that being a "momma's boy" affects your sexual orientation
Parenting Advice | Does inappropriate attachment to your mother affect your sexual orientation?
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Does being a "momma's boy" affect your sexual orientation?

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One of the questions that emerge when you start talking about boys who have been immeshed or over involved with theirr mothers is does that cause the boy to become gay or sometimes those boys are referred to as momma boys. So there's a couple issues that I think are important here one of which is, is that it's not the boys fault first of all that he's under the spell and engulfment of his mother. He's not causing it. It's not his fault that he doesn't have a strong sense of himself. So I'm going to make that point very clear. The second is, is that being too close to your mother does not cause somebody to be gay or hetereosexual for that matter, right? So you can look at men as adults who have had very parallel if not exact immeshed relationships with their mothers where the man plays the role of a surrogant husband. One is hetereosexual. He's turned on by women and the other is gay and he's turned on by men. And they had a very similar parenting relationship with the mother in which she used him for her own needs. Now, so there are some similarities there around feeling guilty and responsible for her and there are some differences. Sometimes gay men will because they don't want to accept that they're gay will want to blame their mother or find search for fault and that just hasn't proven to be true. Similarly though, some very hetereosexual men who feel hetereosexual who are erotically charged by women, have a very difficult time bonding with a woman because they're so bonded with their mother might fear that they're gay and they're not, and that's an important distinction for both of those men to know.
TEEN, Sexuality and Body Image

Psychologist Kenneth M. Adams, PhD debunks the myth that being a "momma's boy" affects your sexual orientation

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Kenneth M. Adams, PhD

Licensed Clinical Psychologist

Kenneth M. Adams, Ph.D., CSAT, is a Licensed Psychologist, the Clinical Director and Founder of Kenneth M. Adams and Associates in suburban Detroit, Michigan, as well as a faculty member at the International Institute for Trauma and Addiction Professionals. As previous Clinical Director for the Life Healing Center in Sante Fe, New Mexico, a residential treatment center for trauma and addiction, Dr Adams created the first inpatient program exclusively for partners of sex addicts. In addition to maintaining an active clinical practice, Dr. Adams is a national lecturer, workshop leader, and consultant in the areas of child abuse, dysfunctional family systems, and sex addiction. He is the author of numerous peer-reviewed publications, the books Silently Seduced and When He’s Married to Mom, as well as co-editor of Clinical Management of Sex Addiction. In 2011, Dr Adams received the “Carnes Award” for “outstanding work in the field of sexual addiction and compulsivity”. He is a certified Sex Addiction Therapist (CSAT), a CSAT supervisor, and CSAT training facilitator as well as an Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) practitioner. Dr. Adams is a member of the American Psychological Association, Michigan Psychological Association, Society for the Advancement of Sexual Health (SASH), and International Institute for Trauma and Addiction Professionals (IITAP) as well as an advisory board member to SASH and IITAP, and an editorial board member of Sexual Addiction & Compulsivity: The Journal of Treatment and Prevention. For more on Dr Adams visit www.drkenadams.com.

 

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