Maria Sophocles

Activist, Change Agent, Doctor, Filmmaker, Idea generator, World traveler, Writer/Editor

Maria Sophocles is an author who wants to normalize and reframe the conversation about female sexuality. We live in an archaic, androcentric world when it comes to our understanding of female sexuality. We only just figured out the anatomy of the clitoris in the last 20 years! Wouldn't it be great if instead of feeling shame and fear about their bodies, women are taught to advocate for their own health, for consensual sex, for the right to contraception, and for the right to sexual pleasure. Why is sexual pleasure a given for men and elusive and shameful for women? A gynecologist, sexual health and menopause specialist, Maria succeeded in getting legislation passed in New Jersey to ensure access to contraception for all women. A fellow of several international and U.S. medical societies, and recognized for her contributions to menopausal and sexual health for women, she pioneered the use of laser to regenerate vaginal tissue for women. Maria has a BA with honors and distinction in English from Duke University. Her thesis was on images of women in the poetry and art of the PreRaphaelites. She enrolled in the University of Paris but skipped class more often than she attended. She trained in the Johns Hopkins system at Greater Baltimore Medical Center and has an MD from Thomas Jefferson University. She speaks French and Italian, wishes she spoke better Greek, and loves to strike up conversation with people she knows nothing about because "everyone has a story." Maria counts herself lucky to have cared for over 85,000 patients in her nearly 30 years in clinical practice; to have a patient husband, parents who shared a love of beauty, nature and food; education that taught her the difference between knowledge and wisdom; and four amazing children who humble her everyday.

1. Educating, empowering women to be the change they seek in terms of gender equity. 2. women's health education, especially sexual education, at any age 3. helping women in midlife navigate the rollercoaster that is menopause 4. being a chronic learner 5. collecting people in my life 6. global travel 7 australian black licorice

How can we realign societal sexual norms? We have lived the societal dogma for millenia that women are to be used for male sexual pleasure. What if we stepped back and questioned that? Women deserve to have sex without pain and deserve sexual pleasure. How do movements like #MeToo and TimesUp help us to own and advocate for our sexual rights? How do government agencies and the pharmaceutical/biotech industries either foster or impede this agenda?

Female Sexual Function, Gynecology, humor, Menopause, Women's Health

I loved being the final speaker at TEDWomen 2023 and have loved being a TED attendee since. I have made friends in my original TEDWomen cohort, plus kept in touch with many of the amazing ambassadors and TED team. I look forward to continuing to be part of this spectacular "family." After my TED talk about what happens to sex in midlife I authored a book called The Bedroom Gap and now am executive producing a film about the same topics called HOT!

Creative Arts. Many people assume that because I am a surgeon I am more left brained; I couldn't be less. Math and some science are hard for me. Even spreadsheets remain loathsome. In fact, I have a tremendous need for creativity in my everyday life. I have to either be fixing, improving or making something more beautiful in any way. I love to use my hands, which I guess does lend itself to surgery. I enjoy the solitude of hiking and gardening; the creativity and sensory pleasure of cooking. I enjoy woodworking, taking rough hewn wood and uncovering the beauty in the grain and the cut and the story of the imperfections in the wood. I love pottery, partly from the feel of the slip and the clay and the beautiful ( or not) forms which emerge from the potter's wheel; but more so from the unpredictable beauty of the glazes. I love painting and drawing but am not at all trained or very capable. FLORA and FAUNA. I attended a quaker school as a child and our classes were often outdoors with impromptu "tests" which involved tapping a maple tree, foraging for edible plants or naming all the birds and trees on a hike. I loved it! We learned science largely outside the classrooms, with the forest and lake and orchard on the school campus as our classroom. Singing -- because I'm not. Really not. I wish I could carry a tune or had a more innate sense of rhythm, but it is work and it is not pleasant to watch or listen to; my daughter and son have perfect pitch and my husband has a lot of rhythm so this is painfully obvious in my family where music is omnipresent.