Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

Mind The Gap: The truth about desire and how to futureproof your sex life

Rate this book

'This book taught me so much about female desire. A must read!' Cherry Healey

Did you know that there is an orgasm gap of around 30% between heterosexual couples when they have sex?

In Mind The Gap, Dr Karen Gurney, a clinical psychologist and certified psychosexologist, explores not just this gap, but the gaps in our knowledge of so much of the most important new science around sex and desire.

In this book, you will learn that nearly everything that you've been led to believe about female sexuality isn't actually true. And that, despite what you might think, it is possible to simultaneously feel little to no spontaneous desire and have a happy and mutually satisfying sex life long term.

Exploring the mismatch between ideas about sex in our society and what the science tells us, Mind The Gap also explains how this disconnect lies at the root of many of our sexual problems.

Combining science with case studies, practical exercises and tips, this is a book for anyone who wants to better understand the mechanics of desire and futureproof their sex life, for life.

336 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 5, 2020

351 people are currently reading
3727 people want to read

About the author

Karen Gurney

1 book23 followers

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
399 (42%)
4 stars
369 (39%)
3 stars
152 (16%)
2 stars
22 (2%)
1 star
1 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 74 reviews
Profile Image for Chris Selin.
169 reviews2 followers
April 20, 2020
A tough rating, please let me explain. The information provided is a 4.5. The writing style and editing bring it down to a 3. The book pleads for one more revision, perhaps with a different editor. Too many typos for my tolerance threshold - fine. But the sentence structure throughout the book complicated the flow of pertinent information. I found myself rereading sentences and paragraphs to make sure my mind was following the author’s intentions. Perhaps the second edition will be honed and ready for issuance to EVERY SINGLE hetero male on the planet. I’m thrilled that people like Dr. Gurney and the troop at The Hotbed Collective are normalizing discussion of female sexuality, sexual needs, and the function of our organs.
Profile Image for mariam.
99 reviews47 followers
January 18, 2021
the information in this book is a 4.5/5 and i do not mean to discredit that in any way .. but i bought this from a charity shop without reading the blurb properly and thought it was going to be more about the history of women in terms of sex/women and sex in society and less of a hands on guide to improving sex life! but for that purpose i have to say it does work very well
works very well for men and women who aren’t well versed in the topic/want to improve their sex lives
although accessible, i found the writing very repetitive and annoying at times.. a tiny bit too informal for my liking (personal preference!) and i thought there were too many references to previous chapters, eg: “as discussed in chapter 5” or “from chapter 6”... idk stuff like that. i guess it’s useful if you consider the purpose of this book and conforming more to a ‘sex-manual’ but if (like me) you’re just reading this in one go, it can become tiring
all in all, a very quick read and useful for the most part!
154 reviews1 follower
March 14, 2022
LOVE LOVE LOVE. I think everybody should read this. I listened to the audiobook version and her voice didn’t irritate me which was a good sign (always struggle with this usually). I think the activities are really great and it’s just a good way of understanding how different influences can impact your sex lives in ways we didn’t necessarily consider or understand. Also some good research there, some of which I was familiar with and some which is all new to me.
Profile Image for Nici.
142 reviews6 followers
June 8, 2023
So hard to rate this book - here is why:

I was really impressed by the explanations how society and social scripts influence what we want and what we do and how we feel about that. That I found so helpful and I would encourage everybody to read that.

However I only skimmed through the last 100 pages. Not because I felt they are bad or anything but because I felt that I had read all that before in other books. Even the most interesting topic gets so boring after a while.
37 reviews
April 27, 2025
An amazing book - mind blown and so empowering without putting anybody/thing down. Factual information but told in a clean and delightful way. If you identify as female or identify as male attracted to female - this should be read
Profile Image for Lara.
598 reviews37 followers
December 31, 2021
I really liked this book in the beginning and I still very much appreciate its message and hands-on advice. It just got a little tiring to read. A really great book though, I might get back to it at some point and really appreciate it.
Profile Image for Lily.
694 reviews6 followers
Read
April 18, 2021
This was so good and so eye-opening! Every woman, person with a vagina, and everyone else should read this.

Dr Karen Gurney starts by exposing the practices, lies, and beliefs that lead us to where we are today in how we think, feel, and act around sex.
She then starts dismantling all the "facts" you thought you knew about sex and relationships.
And she finishes it off by teaching you how you can improve your own understanding and sex life in your own relationship.

The book is mostly focused on women's sexual health/pleasure, and specifically heterosexual sexual experiences, but there's bits in here that are useful for everyone.

Will probably have to read again one day if I ever get into a relationship.
Profile Image for Maddie Lee.
43 reviews5 followers
May 17, 2021
I was recommended this book as I had been reading a bit about the science of desire and the re-discovery of the anatomy of the clitoris, but I didn’t realise it was also geared towards a bit of a self help guide, which is great! So, the book was great and well written, but it wasn’t exactly what I was expecting.
Profile Image for Olivia.
175 reviews2 followers
March 13, 2022
Really enjoyed this explanation of the psychological side of sex. There are lots of references to sex not always being immediate and easy and how to make it work on an individual level instead of being one-size-fits all, as well as lots of non-heteronormative inclusivity.
I listened to the audio book but I'll definitely be referring back to this and may buy a physical copy.
Profile Image for Maggie.
36 reviews56 followers
August 3, 2022
Informative and open-minded. I think as someone in the general public just exploring this topic it would be a good way in. As a therapist/psychologist I found it a bit repetitive and verbose at times, but I would recommend to clients having sexual issues
Profile Image for Rachael Day.
156 reviews
December 17, 2023
A revelatory and reassuring exploration of women's desires, demystifying the complexities of sexual thoughts and feelings. With empathy and insight, this book normalizes the multifaceted aspects of women's sexuality, offering invaluable guidance to navigate and futureproof one's sex life.
85 reviews
December 31, 2024
The presented thematics are important and interesting. Unfortunately, the writing is incredibly repetitive and the book itself is not very well structured. The topic could be explained better with a cut of at least a hundred pages.
8 reviews
January 3, 2021
4.5 stars: I'd recommend this book to anyone. It discusses a whole host of topics around female desire and gives great advice on how to maintain and improve satisfaction.

Gurney's writing is very accessible, explaining things clearly without being patronising (and backed up by research, too). There are a few typos/some words appearing twice which could be amended in a future edition.

It is a touch political/feminist in places but of course this is important to recognise in the context of the book.

Overall a great, informative read.
41 reviews
November 18, 2025
Read this as a recommendation for my new work placement and glad I did! v interesting insightful read
Profile Image for Sara.
38 reviews
April 29, 2024
is there a better time to read a book about improving your sex life than when celibate? lol

but for real, I learned so much from this one. Every woman (and their partners) should read this.
1 review2 followers
November 20, 2024
I have been recommending this book to all my friends. Truly believe all women should read this 👏👏
Profile Image for Lauren.
10 reviews
November 1, 2022
Some really great information in this book but honestly painful to read. The format and the way it was written was so confusing I felt like the whole way through the book it was saying "I'll tell you everything you want to know in the next chapter" then at the end it was like "I've explained this is the previous chapters" and at the end of the book I couldn't really tell you what I was taking away from it.
30 reviews1 follower
June 8, 2021
Great concepts, challenging the conditioning but repetitive and loses you sometimes but an important read for women
Profile Image for Stephanie.
224 reviews
May 30, 2023
Recently, I read through Untangled: Guiding Teenage Girls Through the Seven Transitions into Adulthood, which has a great chapter about how entering the world of romance can be a confusing ordeal for girls, as they're confronted with so many conflicting messages. For example, women should be beautiful and sexy! But not too beautiful and sexy, or else they'll draw attention from the wrong kinds of people, and bad things might happen to them. Still, sex and romance are wonderful things!! Women just need to be careful about pregnancy, STIs, pain, abuse, and in some cases, death. EASY!

Also, love and marriage won't necessarily protect women from those dangers, so instead, they should be independent and protect themselves by getting a good education and income (RAWR GIRL POWER) - as long as they also have a fit body, semi-stylish clothes, a lovely home, good meals, and (if they're mothers, which eventually they should be) a close relationship with their well-behaved children.

It's a lot.
And adults, in their concern, tend to worsen the situation by offering their own opinions, rather than posing the single question teenage girls rarely get asked without expectation or judgement:
"What do you want?"

This book felt like an extension of that thought-provoking chapter, only applied to adult women instead of teenagers. And frankly, it's embarrassing how much I learned. Although I really shouldn't be embarrassed, since we pick up our ideas about sex/romance from society, and as Gurney points out, our society is patently wrong about many things. Even progressive communities that tout sex positivity sometimes promote ideas about sex that have been recently disproven or questioned by sexological research.

For instance, why does the word 'foreplay' exist? What kind of sexual hierarchy does it suggest, and is that hierarchy helpful or detrimental to our sex lives? What if we had a more egalitarian approach to intimacy, where any intimate act (even ones not typically labeled as 'sex', like massages or slow dancing) held equal value, unattached to a predictable timeline? Would that increase or decrease our overall sexual happiness?

This book is full of interesting questions like those. While the content is mostly geared towards people in sexual relationships (especially women and their partners), I'd recommend it to anyone who's interested in exploring/challenging their ideas about sex and basing their views in current science rather than societal myth. In particular, I think it's a fantastic read for parents/caretakers influencing a young person's sexual development - or even just to have on the shelf for teenagers to pick up on their own.

Above all, I love how Gurney offers methods for creating a happy (sexual) future for yourself, regardless of the circumstances life throws at you. The ideas she presents can work at whatever age, in whatever situation, to promote sexual happiness. I mean, after reading this book, I can totally see myself as a sexually-vibrant centenarian, shimmying into the bingo hall with my cane.
WATCH OUT WORLD

The only caveat I'd give to these 5 stars is that a lot of the research is based in the UK, and the findings are consequently oriented towards that country. For example, I imagine Dutch women would have fewer qualms about being assertive or direct about sex compared to British women, but I have no quantitive evidence to support that. Just anecdotes. :)
197 reviews1 follower
January 15, 2024
(3.75 Star Rating)

I was debating between and 3.75 star rating and a 4 star rating on this one, but overall I think it is is firmly a 3.75.

The information in this book is very interesting, useful, and, to me at least, new. I felt it had alot of useful points and considerations within it, and provided a good degree of scientific supportive evidence without being drowned out by the scientific research.

This is probably one of the clearest cases of ' it does what it says on the blur' that I've ever read - the book details exactly what the blur says it does, it talks about desire and how to futureproof your sex life lol.

I was sceptical of the book at first but it got better as it went along, really hitting it's stride in the middle third. The book is clearly aimed at long term couples, which the blur doesn't really make clear, and I could imagine this book would be difficult to engage or relate with, let alone do the exercises, if you were not in a romantic relationship at the time of reading.

That being said I did like the practical advice / exercise sections, and felt it made some of the theory applicable. It had aspects of a self help toned book in that way.

It's major downfalls were the writing and formatting styles. It had an academic research written style, which I'm personally a fan of, particularly in non fiction, but it isn't particularly accessible and can come across as clunky. This was particularly evident in phrases such as ' In chapter 4 we discussed...' or ' I hope you have learnt...'. This lead to it feeling very repetitive, as well as the fact that it actually WAS quite repetitive, particularly in saying the same points. This repetitive was a bit annoying, but fundamentally didn't bother me too much, as it was obvious they were just trying to ram home the same points.

It's done a good job at making me interested in the topic and I would definitely read more of this kind of genre - I think a societal and educational gap exists on this topic due to taboos mainly and its important to educate ourselves on it as young / as soon as possible.

Overall, a good quick read with some good key takeaways.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for books4chess.
235 reviews19 followers
April 28, 2021
“Sex is more like dancing than digestion”

~ The ultimate sex education we deserve and a suitable book for International Women’s Day. This book breaks it all down in comprehensive chapters with activities after each to allow the reader to self-reflect on their own journey with their bodies. It covers common misconceptions, sex in society and in our minds. Everything we think we know or assume is analysed and explained, plus I’m a sucker for sex education stats.

~ 1. Foreplay. The book is incredible but this stood out for me massively. When we call anything other than penetrative P in V activities ‘foreplay’, we invalidate sex for anyone outside of a typical heterosexual relationship. It’s not even statistically the act most enjoyed for many men and women, yet it’s been engrained into us to the point we either engage in it over other acts because they’re ‘not sex’ or subscribe to this expectoration of what sex is. For couples who don’t penetrate, whether by choice, preference, sexual barriers etc, we fail to recognise their sexual validity. I honestly had never considered this prior and I love how the book emphasised this. Penetration is penetration, not sex.

~ 2. Desire. It’s not the first stage for many and you don’t need to wait for it before engaging in any form of intimacy. Equally, we need to look into whether we’ve been ‘socially sexualised’ to prioritise someone else’s needs over our own. Do we actually want this or do we just think we do because others pleasures have been engrained into us?

~ For me, a good book is one that leaves you thinking about it. It’s one you put down multiple times in order to tell a friend something you’ve just read and consider the passages you have read over and over. Dr Gurney did all of this.

We deserve better and with authors like Dr Gurney leading the way, I have hope.
Profile Image for Cole.
40 reviews14 followers
Read
January 29, 2024
Like others, I expected this to be more of a history or explanation of the orgasm gap than a self-help book. For a self-help book, it's surprisingly bland. I think this is especially true for the audio version, which the author reads herself. Her voice is fine but incredibly difficult to pay attention to for long periods of time, so I found myself having to backtrack frequently. For anyone who has read much on the subject, it feels redundant. It certainly didn't feel life-altering the way Come As You Are did, and it lacked the specificity of Becoming Cliterate. I also agree with another reviewer that it doesn't feel as polished as it could.

Nevertheless, I think someone who wants help and hasn't been exposed to information about desire, sexual scripts, and maintaining intimacy within may find it quite useful. It does present the research, offer real couples as anecdotes, and provide examples of how to navigate tricky conversations about sex and is backed up with the authors experience as a sex therapist.
Profile Image for Chloe Couper.
75 reviews1 follower
August 20, 2023
This was an exceptional insight into desire and sex from one of the best sex-science aficionados (in my opinion) of this decade!

Not only does Karen take us on a journey through sex within the context of history and societal scripts, she also challenges the reader to consider their own views and sexual relationships with insightful exercises for the reader to do at her (or his) leisure :)

This should definitely be on every woman's reading list (especially those who are in or seek heterosexual relationships)! That being said, the chapters do not alienate men in any way and would prove insightful if they should seek to a) find new ways of exploring their own sexual relationships and b) challenging the learned societal scripts surrounding sex.

Whatever your reason for reading this book, Karen is one of my favourite researchers and a veritable font of knowledge on everything related to desire and sex! I would definitely go check out her instagram too 😉
Profile Image for Shae.
15 reviews3 followers
April 13, 2021
This book was phenomenal. Written by a sex and relationship therapist this book is a great hub of accessible information and exercises on communication and understanding of sex and sexual issues in partnerships. It speaks specifically of the experiences of women (although I would say "vulva-owning people") through the social constructs of body image, to the understanding of desire and talking about it. I think it's a great book for anyone who wants a perspective on understanding your own preferences, desires and journey around sex and relationships, as well as communicating more about sex with a partner and shaping mutual understandings and good habits.
Profile Image for Michelle McLean.
114 reviews1 follower
January 9, 2023
Main take-away: talk to your partner.

This book was fairly heavy (and repetitive) on the history and psychology but lighter on the how-tos. There are some reflection questions/activities at the end of each section. If this is something you would want to do, the physical book would probably work easier than the audiobook.

The dry narration of the Audible version has affected my rating. There were also some cringy conversations (between actors) towards the end, acting out how to approach conversations with your partner.

I did find the bits on sex-positive parenting interesting but there were only a few references to this.
Profile Image for Janvi.
52 reviews6 followers
December 27, 2023
(don’t remember when I started but I was about 1/2 way through)

actually just really good and useful! well explained, and each chapter has a chapter summary, which I am an absolute sucker for.

the only reason it’s not 5 is because, like most therapy-adjacent self help books, i feel like I miss most of the message because I’m not taking notes on the important parts and applying them to myself.

A way to 80/20 this would be to get all the chapter summaries and key questions/any exercises mentioned in a gdoc and going through them.
14 reviews
August 5, 2024
It was a good book overall. It was just quite repetitive - it would easily be 50 pages shorter if you take out all the paragraphs that start with “In this chapter I will tell you” or “in this chapter we spoke about” or “as I said in chapter 3…”
I also don’t know how much I enjoyed the writing style - it seemed to flip between the pop culture semi-academic style which I was expecting and hoping for and a kind of “let me tell you a thing or two about sex, buddy” tone which I didn’t love as much.

But it did make me think at times and got my partner and I talking so - 3 stars.
Profile Image for Brooke.
10 reviews19 followers
September 27, 2025
Really enjoyed it and learned a lot of good information from this book. The main problem is that I noticed quite a lot of typos and there was some awkward sentence structure all throughout the book. My level of enjoyment and what I got out of the book was enough to tip it over to 4 stars rather than 3 stars. Before I return this to the library, I'll probably flick through it again to do some of the exercises throughout the book (the ones that can be done while being single). Definitely wish another round of editing was done before releasing this book though.
Profile Image for Madeleine.
90 reviews
December 12, 2021
In my opinion, this book is better than Come As You Are. Gurney has a better writing style compared to Nagoski and it has more of a professional tone to it. Not discounting Nagoski's work, but I personally was turned off by her writing style. Nevertheless, if you want information about understanding women's desire, Gurney definitely explains it very well in a way that I believe it's important to comprehend in.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 74 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.