Additional information
by Peg Streep (Author)
Drawn from research and the real-life experiences of adult daughters, Mean Mothers illuminates one of the last cultural taboos: what happens when a woman does not or cannot love her own daughter. Peg Streep, co-author of the highly acclaimed Girl in the Mirror, has subtitled this important, eye-opening exploration of the darker side of maternal behavior, "Overcoming the Legacy of Hurt." There are no psychopathic child abusers in Mean Mothers. Instead, this essential volume focuses on the more subtle forms of psychological damage inflicted by mothers on their unappreciated daughters--and offers help and support to those women who were forced to suffer a parent's cruelty and neglect.
How does this legacy of hurt manifest in the life of an adult daughter, and what are the first steps toward healing and reclaiming your sense of self?
- The Myth of Mother Love: Explore why the cultural taboo against criticizing mothers keeps so many adult daughters silent and trapped in self-blame.
- Intergenerational Patterns: Understand how unloving behaviors are passed down from grandmother to mother to daughter through the lens of attachment theory, creating a painful "legacy of hurt."
- Narcissistic and Unloving Mothers: Identify the subtle but powerful patterns of emotional abuse, from constant criticism and jealousy to control and a complete lack of empathy.
- The Role of Fathers and Siblings: See how other family members can become heroes or coconspirators, and why you might have been singled out among your siblings.
- Stilling the Mother Voice Within: Learn actionable strategies to overcome the deeply ingrained self-doubt and reclaim your self-worth, finally breaking the cycle for yourself and future generations.
Back Jacket
An exploration of the darker side of maternal behavior drawn from scientific research, psychology, and the real-life experiences of adult daughters, Mean Mothers sheds light on one of the last cultural taboos: what happens when a woman doesn't or can't love her daughter.
Mean Mothers reveals the multigenerational thread that often runs through these stories--many unloving mothers are the daughters of unloving or hypercritical women--and explores what happens to a daughter's sense of self and to her relationships when her mother is emotionally absent or even cruel. But Mean Mothers is also a narrative of hope, recounting how daughters can get past the legacy of hurt to become whole within and to become loving mothers to the next generation of daughters. The personal stories of unloved daughters and sons and those of the author herself, are both unflinching and moving, and bring this most difficult of subjects to life.
Mean Mothers isn't just a book for daughters who've had difficult or impossible relationships with their mothers. By exposing the myths of motherhood that prevent us from talking about the women for whom mothering a daughter is fraught with ambivalence, tension, or even jealousy, Mean Mothers also casts a different light on the extraordinary influence mothers have over their female children as well as the psychological complexity and emotional depth of the mother-daughter relationship.
