My Mother, My Self: The Daughter's Search for Identity
When Nancy Friday began her research for My Mother/My Self in the early 1970’s no work existed that explored the unique interaction between mother and daughter. Today psychotherapists throughout the world acknowledge that if women are to be able to love without possessing, to find work that fulfills them, and to discover their full sexuality, they must first acknowledge their identity as separate from their mother’s. Nancy Friday’s book played a major role in that acceptance. The greatest...
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When Nancy Friday began her research for My Mother/My Self in the early 1970’s no work existed that explored the unique interaction between mother and daughter. Today psychotherapists throughout the world acknowledge that if women are to be able to love without possessing, to find work that fulfills them, and to discover their full sexuality, they must first acknowledge their identity as separate from their mother’s. Nancy Friday’s book played a major role in that acceptance. The greatest gift a good mother can give remains unquestioning love planted deep in the first year of life, so deep and anassailable that the tiny child grown to womanhood is never held back by the fear of losing that love, no matter what her own choice in love, sexuality, or work may be.Through candid self-disclosure and hundreds of interviews, Friday investigates a generational legacy and reveals the conflicting feelings of anger, hate, and love the daughter’s hold for their mothers–and why they so often “become” that mother themselves.
Author's AcknowledgmentsIntroduction to My Mother/My SelfCh. 1Mother Love1Ch. 2A Time to Be Close27Ch. 3A Time to Let Go62Ch. 4Body Image and Menstruation92Ch. 5Competition132Ch. 6The Other Girls171Ch. 7Surrogates and Models192Ch. 8Men the Mystery228Ch. 9The Loss of Virginity254Ch. 10The Single Years294Ch. 11Marriage: The Return to Symbiosis337Ch. 12A Mother Dies. A Daughter is Born the Cycle Repeats378Notes414Bibliography421
