美国国家公共电台 NPR--Encore: 'Mama's boy' is a flex, not an insult, for a new generation of men

Encore: 'Mama's boy' is a flex¹, not an insult, for a new generation of men

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CULTURE

'Mama's boy' is a flex, not an insult, for a new generation of men

A MARTINEZ, HOST:

This morning, we're taking a new look at an old insult.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE GREAT SANTINI")

ROBERT DUVALL: (As Bull Meechum) Hey, hey, hey, mama's boy, mama's boy. I bet you're going to cry. Come on.

MARTINEZ: The term mama's boy has been an emasculating put-down for a long time, like we heard in that scene from the 1979 movie "The Great Santini." But a new generation of men are now embracing those words with pride, as NPR's Neda Ulaby reports.

NEDA ULABY, BYLINE³: Today's mama's boys are the handsome and confident stars of reality shows such as "The Circle."

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE CIRCLE")

JOEY SASSO: I'm a bartender, and I'm the proudest mama's boy you're ever going to meet.

ULABY: They are glamorous⁴ tech entrepreneurs.

SAHIL BLOOM: I am a proud mama's boy.

ULABY: That's Sahil Bloom, himself about to be the new dad of an infant son.

BLOOM: And I expect him to be a mama's boy in the same way.

ULABY: Mama's boys in 2022 are professional football players.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

JEROME BAKER⁵: Where is my mama, bro? Bro, where is my mama, though?

ULABY: Jerome Baker is a linebacker for the Miami Dolphins. He told NPR he's been a proud mama's boy forever.

BAKER: When I was younger, people did try to make fun of me, like, oh, you're a mama's boy. But me - I was different. I was proud to be that. I think a lot of people wasn't proud to just be a mama's boy.

ULABY: And why would you be proud? Mama's boys were pathologized in popular culture. Just think of Norman Bates in the movie "Psycho." It goes all the way back to "Beowulf's" Grendel. And compare mama's boys to daddy's girls, who might have their downsides, but they weren't killing⁶ people, says Harriet Lerner. She's a best-selling psychologist and the mother of two boys who were kids in the 1980s.

HARRIET LERNER: I would see these T-shirts that were on all these cute little girls, and they said daddy's girl.

ULABY: Back then, Lerner could not find T-shirts that said mama's boy. Now they're easy to buy. In fact, Google Trends shows a recent spike⁷ in searches for the words mama's boy shirt. And Google is not the only place with data proving that mama's boy is being radically⁸ redefined.

MICHAEL KAYE: Men who are writing in voluntarily on their OkCupid profiles that they are a mama's boy are actually seeing a 7% higher probability rate of exchanging phone numbers with another user.

ULABY: Michael Kaye works for the dating app OkCupid. Seven percent may not seem like much, he says...

KAYE: But when you think about there being millions and millions of people on dating apps like OkCupid, it's actually a pretty high success rate.

HELEN FISHER: It's a very clever strategy.

ULABY: So says Helen Fisher. She works for another big dating app - Match.com. Fisher did not crunch⁹ any numbers specifically for the term mama's boy, but she did check the data about men who reference their moms in their Match.com profiles.

FISHER: There's only 1.4% of men who actually use the terms my mother, my mom or my mama. But those 1.4% men had a 26% increase in the likelihood to resign from the site because they had met somebody.

ULABY: That sounds right to Garrett Watts¹⁰. He's a popular YouTube star. When Watts meets guys online who call themselves mama's boys in their profiles, he thinks one thing about them.

GARRETT WATTS: Honest.

ULABY: After all, Watts says, most men technically¹¹ are mama's boys. So if you decide to call him one...

WATTS: You're just calling me a human. When I hear mama's boy, all I hear is, like, base-level, emotionally responsible human. And let the stigma¹² go. Let it go.

ULABY: That would be something to celebrate. Neda Ulaby, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HEY MAMA")

KANYE WEST: (Singing) Hey, Mama.

1 flex   

n.皮线，花线；vt.弯曲或伸展

参考例句：

• We wound off a couple of yards of wire for a new lamp flex.我们解开几码电线作为新的电灯花线。
• He gave his biceps a flex to impress the ladies.他收缩他的肱二头肌以吸引那些女士们的目光。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 glamorous   

adj.富有魅力的；美丽动人的；令人向往的

参考例句：

• The south coast is less glamorous but full of clean and attractive hotels.南海岸魅力稍逊，但却有很多干净漂亮的宾馆。
• It is hard work and not a glamorous job as portrayed by the media.这是份苦差，并非像媒体描绘的那般令人向往。

5 baker   

n.面包师

参考例句：

• The baker bakes his bread in the bakery.面包师在面包房内烤面包。
• The baker frosted the cake with a mixture of sugar and whites of eggs.面包师在蛋糕上撒了一层白糖和蛋清的混合料。

6 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

7 spike   

n.长钉，钉鞋；v.以大钉钉牢，使...失效

参考例句：

• The spike pierced the receipts and held them in order.那个钉子穿过那些收据并使之按顺序排列。
• They'll do anything to spike the guns of the opposition.他们会使出各种手段来挫败对手。

8 radically   

ad.根本地，本质地

参考例句：

• I think we may have to rethink our policies fairly radically. 我认为我们可能要对我们的政策进行根本的反思。
• The health service must be radically reformed. 公共医疗卫生服务必须进行彻底改革。

9 crunch   

n.关键时刻；艰难局面；v.发出碎裂声

参考例句：

• If it comes to the crunch they'll support us.关键时刻他们是会支持我们的。
• People who crunch nuts at the movies can be very annoying.看电影时嘎吱作声地嚼干果的人会使人十分讨厌。

10 watts   

（电力计量单位）瓦，瓦特( watt的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• My lamp uses 60 watts; my toaster uses 600 watts. 我的灯用60瓦，我的烤面包器用600瓦。
• My lamp uses 40 watts. 我的灯40瓦。

11 technically   

adv.专门地，技术上地

参考例句：

• Technically it is the most advanced equipment ever.从技术上说，这是最先进的设备。
• The tomato is technically a fruit,although it is eaten as a vegetable.严格地说，西红柿是一种水果，尽管它是当作蔬菜吃的。

12 stigma   

n.耻辱，污名；(花的)柱头

参考例句：

• Being an unmarried mother used to carry a social stigma.做未婚母亲在社会上曾是不光彩的事。
• The stigma of losing weighed heavily on the team.失败的耻辱让整个队伍压力沉重。