Yup. As in, "emotional abuse".
I have a old acquaintance from youth (not a homosexual that I know of but never got married or had any girlfriends) whose mother was consistently overbearing.
I don't think anyone would "call" it abuse, but in my mind a consistent long-time influence that creates in a child an usually strong fear of life or instills a negative view of life is abuse. I think the mother in this case was merely trying to protect the child. But the effect on the child was to instill fear.
Like most relationships in life, this one flew under the radar such that no clear abuse was visible, but the mother clearly damaged the child.
And oddly enough, I don't think such behavior is rare (particularly in families where that father is missing or weak).