The Homecoming is rich with sexual themes, yet they rarely involve love and are seldom about lust or pleasure. In the play, sex often serves as a means of exerting power. Jessie, the mother of Teddy, Lenny, and Joey, is portrayed as both a nurturing figure and a prostitute, a role that Ruth openly embraces by the play's conclusion. Jessie's sexual encounters with Max's friend, MacGregor, are frequently referenced throughout the play.

Ruth uses sex and Lenny's apparent fear of it to assert dominance during their initial meeting. She later uses sexual allure to control Lenny while they dance. Immediately after, she begins foreplay with Joey in front of the entire family, including her husband, Teddy. Ruth then spends two hours in Joey's room, enticing him without "going all the way," leaving him mesmerized. She agrees to become a prostitute as a business deal. Teddy seems to view her sexual activities as distinct from her role as their sons' mother. Even Sara's disinterest in sex is used against him. When Joey and Lenny recount a sexual adventure with two girls, it is essentially about their ability to intimidate the girls' escorts and then dominate the girls amidst the ruins of a demolition site. For these characters, sex is a tool for power and control.