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The Orgasm Expert: THIS Is How Often You Should Be Having Sex & Stop Inviting Pets Into The Bedroom!

Dr Karen Gurney is a Clinical Psychologist, Psychosexologist and Couples Therapist, she has been helping couples tackle sex problems for over 20 years. She is the author of the bestselling book, ‘Mind The Gap: The truth about desire and how to future proof your sex life’. 0:00 Intro 02:43 What Do You Do and Why Do You Do It? 04:32 Our Attention Is Being Hijacked Which Is Affecting Our Sex Lives 10:33 Why Does Sex Get Harder the More We Think About It 12:26 Why Expectations and Pressure Make Sex Worse 16:32 Our Society Has Created a "Sexual Script" That's Wrong 17:46 How to Talk About Sex with Your Partner 23:45 How to Tell Your Partner You're Not Attracted to Them Anymore 26:32 How to Not Let Kids Ruin Your Sex Life 28:01 The Demographic That Comes to You More Than Any Other 28:52 Why Desire Goes in a Relationship 34:49 How to Trigger Desire in Your Relationship 39:10 The "Initiation" Problem 40:57 Should We Schedule Sex? 43:41 What Should We Be Doing to Keep Desire High in Our Relationships 46:31 How to Talk About Your Fetish with Your Partner 51:30 What Women Really Want During Sex 53:21 Does It Matter Who Initiates Sex? 56:40 If Our Idea of What We Want From Sex Isn't Happening What Should We Do? 59:07 If Men Can't Get It Up, What Should We Do? 01:00:32 If Men Can't Get It Up, What Should We Do? 01:01:51 Should We Have Sex Before or After We Eat? 01:03:58 The Optimal Amount of Times to Have Sex 01:05:52 Sexual Dissatisfaction Between Men and Women 01:08:30 How to Deal with a Sex Life as a Parent 01:12:30 What You Can Do as a Parent to Ensure Your Sex Life Doesn't Go Off Track 01:14:02 The Relationship Between Poor Sleep and Sex 01:17:15 At What Point Should People Reach Out to You? 01:17:57 Have You Ever Seen Relationships That Are Unrecoverable? 01:19:21 The Top 3 Most Common Sexual Problems 01:21:22 The Impact of Pets on Our Sex Lives 01:23:19 Are You Hopeful for the Future of Sex? 01:24:40 How Menopause Affects Our Sex Lives 01:25:57 Our Bodies Changing Over Time and How That Impacts Our Sex Lives 01:27:03 Are We Meant to Be Monogamous? 01:32:27 The Last Guest’s Question You can pre-order Karen’s book, ‘How Not to Let Having Kids Ruin Your Sex Life’, here: https://amzn.to/49mvtnx Follow Karen Twitter - https://bit.ly/4bEnROQ Instagram - https://bit.ly/49i1AEP Get tickets to The Business & Life Speaking Tour: https://stevenbartlett.com/tour/ Join this channel to get access to perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGq-a57w-aPwyi3pW7XLiHw/join Follow me: https://beacons.ai/diaryofaceo Sponsors: https://www.eightsleep.com/uk/steven/ CODE: STEVEN (save $150 on the Pod Cover)

GuestguestSteven Bartletthost
Feb 19, 20241h 36mWatch on YouTube ↗

CHAPTERS

  1. 5:50 – 14:00

    Why Sex Matters More Than We Admit

    Gurney introduces her work as a psychosexologist and explains why sex is not a trivial add-on but foundational to psychological and relationship wellbeing. She outlines rising dissatisfaction levels and how cultural silence and stigma around sex keep people stuck.

  2. 14:00 – 28:20

    Attention, Tech, and the New Epidemic of Low Desire

    The conversation explores how modern lifestyles—constant device use, poor work–life balance, and chronic distraction—undermine attention, a key ingredient in sexual arousal. Gurney links everyday stress and email-checking in bed to erection issues and a broader decline in sexual frequency.

  3. 28:20 – 39:10

    Pressure, Expectations, and the Myths That Ruin Sex

    Gurney dissects how expectations, performance pressure, and unspoken worries paralyze desire and make bedtime feel like a minefield. They discuss the paradox that the more you worry about sex, the worse it gets, and the crucial role of open communication.

  4. 39:10 – 50:00

    Sexual Scripts, Porn, and the ‘Set Menu’ Problem

    The episode examines ‘sexual script theory’—our internalized template for how sex should go—largely formed via media and porn. Gurney explains how scripts like penis‑in‑vagina as ‘real sex’ and male-centric pleasure depictions fuel the orgasm gap and misaligned expectations.

  5. 50:00 – 1:00:00

    How to Actually Talk About Sex

    Gurney outlines a practical stepwise model for building a culture of sexual conversation in relationships. She stresses that talking about sex is the strongest predictor of long-term sexual satisfaction and offers specific scripts to move from indirect to direct dialogue.

  6. 1:00:00 – 1:09:10

    Attraction, Parenthood, and the Mental Load

    They tackle the thorny issue of lost attraction and how life transitions, especially parenthood, alter desire. Gurney explains how unequal domestic labor, partner-as-‘third child’ dynamics, and sleeplessness reduce erotic charge and breed resentment, while also describing when lack of attraction may be a dealbreaker.

  7. 1:09:10 – 1:25:00

    Desire 101: Spontaneous vs Responsive and the ‘Three Times a Week’ Myth

    This core section reframes desire as something that often follows—not precedes—sexual activity, and debunks the cultural notion of a fixed ‘sex drive’. Gurney introduces responsive desire and sexual currency, challenges the normative three-times-a-week belief, and shows why quality trumps quantity.

  8. 1:25:00 – 1:37:30

    Building and Using Sexual Currency; Why Scheduling ‘Sex’ Backfires

    Gurney dives deeper into sexual currency as an ongoing ‘charge’ in the relationship and explains why scheduling sex itself creates pressure. She recommends scheduling intimacy instead—baths, massages, film nights—and keeping invitations frequent, playful, and easy to refuse.

  9. 1:37:30 – 1:52:30

    Practical Tips: Kissing, Distance, Initiation Styles, and Experiments

    They move into concrete tactics: kissing more, maintaining some distance/novelty, diversifying initiation styles, and negotiating differences in fantasies or kink appetite. Gurney emphasizes experimentation as part of a chosen ‘sexual personality’ for the relationship and offers tools to map each partner’s conditions for good sex.

  10. 1:52:30 – 2:04:10

    Erections, Arousal Non-Concordance, and Gentle Rejection

    Gurney normalizes erection difficulties, especially under stress and pressure, and introduces arousal non‑concordance—the mismatch between mental desire and bodily response. She explains how couples can respond when erections fail without catastrophizing, and why gentle, clear refusals actually improve long-term satisfaction.

  11. 2:04:10 – 2:09:40

    Sleep, Kids, and Steering the ‘Sex Boat’ Back on Course

    Here the focus returns to parents: how sleep debt, night wakings, and constant priorities sap libido, and what small course corrections keep sex recoverable. Gurney uses a sailing metaphor to illustrate how minor early adjustments in habits and division of labor can radically change long-term sexual outcomes.

  12. 2:09:40 – 2:16:00

    When to See a Sex Therapist—and When It’s Unrecoverable

    Gurney describes common reasons people seek help—desire mismatches, pain, erections, orgasms, and navigating change—and argues they usually come too late. She acknowledges that some relationships are sexually unrecoverable, especially when resentment is entrenched, and that ending them can be a healthy outcome.

  13. 2:16:00 – 2:24:50

    Pets in the Bedroom, Sex Positivity, Menopause, and Body Image

    An unexpected topic—pets derailing sex—illustrates how even small environmental distractions can sabotage arousal. The discussion broadens to cultural shifts in sex positivity, the impact of menopause and hormonal cycles, and how post-baby body changes interact with anxiety about a partner’s attraction.

  14. 2:24:50 – 2:38:40

    Are We Meant to be Monogamous? Open Relationships and the Future of Sex

    The conversation turns philosophical: are humans natural monogamists? Gurney argues we are not ‘designed’ for lifelong sexual interest in one person and that monogamy is a social construct that requires active work. She also discusses open relationships as an emerging, workable alternative with its own demands.

  15. 2:38:40

    Final Advice: Best and Worst Guidance, and What Steven Should Do

    In closing, Gurney recounts the worst advice she ever received—being told she wasn’t suited to psychology—and offers Steven customized advice on his own sex life. She reiterates her central prescription: normalize talking about sex, initiate freely, and be comfortable with no.

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