“I Want That First Kiss to Be Perfect”

In this chapter, I explore how mothers grapple with communication about sexuality and intimacy. Mothers’ fears and insecurities about how their daughters will negotiate relationships and sexuality distinctly emerge in these narratives. In discussing their concerns about their daughters, their own sexual histories and challenges they experienced with their parents and peers (but most especially, their mothers) are revealed. The themes in this chapter reveal the threats they viewed to their daughters’ transition into young womanhood, especially an unplanned pregnancy. These include combating negative peer influences, male attention, and popular culture influences. We also begin to see how single-parent status and being a young mother influence patterns of communication across groups.