ABSTRACT
This chapter will examine the history and context of research on mothers and sons, exploring problematic generalizations as well as the late start of this research due to, in part, maternal ambivalence about mothering sons, followed by examining the foremothers, Adrienne Rich and Nancy Chodorow, of this area of research. Next we will discuss the central issues in scholarship on mothers and sons today, including the fear of effeminizing sons, masculine violence, and the need for peacebuilding, followed by further context in the areas of African American mothering of sons and queering the mothering of sons. This will be followed by current research on mothering of sons, which includes feminist parenting, connection, and raising relational boys. Finally, new directions for further research will include the need to move away from gendered binary thinking about parenting and sons, with a suggestion for further reading in the field.
