'As a boy mum, the Beckham scandal is my literal nightmare.'

You read it.

I read it.

Every person with an internet connection read it.

I am talking about the six-part Instagram post that launched more memes than a Wicked press junket: Brooklyn Beckham's statement explaining why he has cut off his parents, David and Victoria Beckham.

According to the eldest Beckham child, his mum Victoria "hijacked" his first wedding dance with Nicola Peltz Beckham.

The story hit my mum-friends' group chat like a lightning bolt.

"Look, other than the bit about dancing 'inappropriately' on him, I can totally see myself doing that at my son's wedding," I messaged.

The replies were instantaneous. "Oh, 100 per cent. Same," chimed in another fellow MOB (Mother of Boys).

Because beyond a wedding dance I'd quite literally pay a month's rent to witness, this isn't just a story about a family brand imploding.

It's about the cultural tightrope we walk as boy mums.

We are constantly accused of a "creepy" obsession with our sons, and this very public scandal has shone a harsh, unforgiving light on the "toxic boy mum".

Watch: Mamamia Out Loud unpacks Brooklyn Beckham blocking his parents. Post continues below.

And ultimately, this fallout has triggered a deep-rooted fear we've been hearing about since the very moment our sons' genders were revealed on a 20-week scan.

It's poured petrol on the flames of that age-old, heartbreaking trope: A son is yours for life, until he gets him a wife.

It pulls into sharp focus the fact that a mother is demoted from the starring role in her son's life the minute he meets his partner.

But it begs the question: why does the "boy mum" carry such a unique, gendered stigma? Why is there no equivalent #ToxicGirlMum hashtag?

The trope isn't just a TikTok trend; it's the modern face of a centuries-old sociological dynamic often called the "romantic surrogate" problem.

Because women have historically been socialised to find their primary fulfilment through male validation, some mothers unconsciously view their sons as a "loyal partner" who will never leave.

While "girl mums" are seen as raising "mini-mes" in a relationship based on mentorship, "boy mums" are accused of "oedipal enmeshment".

A term rooted in the Greek myth of Oedipus Rex, who unknowingly killed his father and married his mother. (Ew is right).

We've seen it in classic movies like Monster-in-Law (2005), where Jane Fonda views Jennifer Lopez as a direct rival for her son's affection.

We see it in memes where mothers refer to their son's future wedding as "the longest breakup of my life."

And as a boy mum, I get it. I'm single, I have two sons, and I often refer to them as "the loves of my life" because, quite literally, they are.

Does that make me toxic? Or am I just operating within a society that refuses to let women be anything other than "the mother of" or "the wife of"?

When a father is overprotective of a daughter, we crown him a "girl dad", a title of honour that implies he's a noble protector. When a mother is overprotective of her son, she's "enmeshed."

But gendered double standards are hardly groundbreaking, are they?

Listen to The Quicky discuss the case for the boy mum. Post continues below.

Conspicuously absent from this vitriol is David Beckham. He received exactly one mention in his son's statement; Victoria had seven. Seven. 

In the Beckham drama, David is portrayed as the "peacekeeper" or the "bystander," yet he is an equal head of the family. Why is the labour of peacekeeping a woman's job?

The narrative remains rigged: we demand total accountability from the 'overbearing' mother and the 'manipulative' wife, while the fathers are praised simply for staying out of the fray.

Nobody truly knows the private reality of the Beckham household and exactly what led to the crumbling of its picture-perfect empire. But the cultural result is heartbreaking. 

We are back to the same old narrative, forcing two women into a cage match and reviving that archaic saying I fear the most: that a son is only yours until he finds a wife.

We've taken a genuine family tragedy, one where a son has not only estranged himself but publicly dismantled his mother's character for the world to see, and turned it into a viral meme frenzy.

And as a boy mum who, let's be honest, has spent the last 24 hours giggling over the TikTok edits, I'm just as guilty as the rest.

But when I put my phone down and look at my own sons, the humour fades. There is something profoundly haunting about watching a bond that once seemed unbreakable dissolve into 800 words of public resentment.

We are laughing at the memes, but we are watching a mother lose her son in real-time. And for me, that is the saddest part of all.

Feature Image: IG @victoriabeckham