ABSTRACT
Generally, men have not been able to talk about the emotional histories of their relationships with their fathers (or lack of them), or the parts of themselves that they have disowned. In a great deal of autobiographical work written by men there's usually a masking overemphasis on their relationships with their mothers at the expense of their fathers. Often the mother is idealized, put on a pedestal, or reduced in human size as she is squeezed through the narrow lens of the pressing, emotional needs of men. Again and again, she is seen as a self-sacrificing, passive victim,2 giving up everything so that she can service her adored son.
