Content Warning: The novel and the guide reference alcoholism, sexual assault, incest, death by suicide, animal cruelty, abortion, and racism.

The novel explores female sexuality amongst both adolescent girls and adult women, often presenting it as a source of shame and ambivalence. However, the women who eventually embrace a healthier and more balanced view of their sexuality are depicted as being rewarded with greater pleasure and agency. Grace Metalious thus addresses the taboo nature of female sexuality and the anxiety and trauma this produces while still uplifting her female characters and giving them sexual agency.

Throughout much of the plot, adult women (often mothers or maternal figures) act as gatekeepers of the emerging sexuality of the adolescent girl characters. Constance, in particular, is terrified to watch Allison grow up and begin to experiment with her sexuality. She often claims that Allison needs especially rigid policing because of her paternity (Allison’s father had an affair and fathered children with multiple women). However, as Tom points out, Constance is actually projecting her shame and self-loathing onto her daughter: “[Y]ou are afraid that she will turn out to be like you, that she will wind up with an illegitimate child on her hands, as you did” (275).