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Woman's Hour

Narcissistic mothers, Grenfell play, Orca whale mothers & their sons

Woman's Hour

BBC

Society & Culture

4.13K Ratings

🗓️ 25 July 2023

⏱️ 57 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Over the last few months we have been hearing the stories of women who believe that they were raised by mothers who have Narcissistic Personality Disorder. And, a woman who has been labelled a narcissist by her daughter. Today, two psychotherapists who have worked extensively in this field, Dr Jan McGregor Hepburn and Helen Villiers, who has an MA in working therapeutically with adult children of narcissists, join Nuala to answer some of the questions raised by the powerful testimonies heard in the series. Have you ever witnessed a mature, grown male sticking close to – and being very dependent on - his mother? These are the words used to describe new findings from on-going research on orca whales. Carried out by the Centre for Whale Research and Exeter University, it studied orcas in the coastal waters between Vancouver and Seattle, to find that older "post-menopausal" orca mothers protect their adult sons from fights. But, while these four or five-tonne males benefit from this maternal protection, female offspring do not receive the same attention. Lead Researcher from the University of Exeter, Charli Grimes, speaks to Nuala. This year marks the sixth anniversary of the Grenfell Tower fire where 72 people lost their lives. A new play created from interviews conducted with a group of survivors of the fire has opened this month at the National Theatre. Grenfell: in the words of survivors follows the lead up to the disaster, the night of the fire, and the Grenfell Inquiry which followed, and is still ongoing. The final report into the disaster is due to be published later this year. Nuala is joined by writer Gillian Slovo and actor Pearl Mackie.

Presenter: Nuala McGovern Producer: Lucinda Montefiore Studio manager: Duncan Hannant

Transcript

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0:00.0

BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts.

0:04.9

Hello, this is Nulem Agoveren and you're listening to the Woman's Hour podcast.

0:10.3

Last night I went to the play Grenfell in the words of survivors and I've been thinking

0:15.7

about it ever since.

0:17.9

It's created verbatim from the words of the survivors who are in the Grenfell fire

0:23.0

and also from the subsequent inquiry.

0:26.2

It is such a compelling watch.

0:28.2

It's also uplifting in just how connected the community were and continue to be.

0:33.6

They came together and are coming together still to try and affect change.

0:37.6

So we're going to speak to the actor Pearl Mackey and also the plays writer Jillian Slovo.

0:42.7

And I'm wondering whether you have a story to share about a time your community came together.

0:48.2

It could be for something big or something very small, but I'd love to hear that story.

0:52.5

If you get in touch by texting, that number is 84844.

0:57.0

On social media we're at BBC Woman's Hour or email us through our website.

1:01.4

If you would like to send us a WhatsApp message or a voice note, that number is 037001444.

1:10.1

Also today on Woman's Hour, narcissistic mothers.

1:13.2

Now if you're a regular listener to the program, you will have heard many different perspectives

1:17.7

on this.

1:18.8

And today my guests will be answering some of the questions that have been raised by the

1:23.9

powerful testimony that we have heard.

1:27.2

And staying with mothers.

1:29.3

Some fascinating new research about post-menopausal female orcas.

...

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