Sophie Giuliani

Sophie Giuliani is a recurring character in the Free Spirits series, first appearing in Zoe's Quest, Adara's Apostasy and Moira's Covenant, then becoming the title character in Sophie's Wisdom, and again appearing in Jenny's Peace and Elsa's Revelations. 
== Early life ==
Sofia Aurora di Matteo Giuliani was born and raised in California, where her native Italian parents attended university, met and married. Her father, physician Roberto Giuliani, was born in Amalfo and raised predominantly in Rome; her mother, research chemist Angela di Matteo, was born and raised in Florence. Sophie also has two brothers, Chris and Nick. She speaks fluent Italian and retains an appreciation of traditional Italian cuisine. Her parents are nonreligious, and Sophie remarks that they seemed relatively unemotional while growing up, only discussing sex in "clinical" terms. Sophie attended college at UC San Francisco, earning a B.S. degree there, then earning her Masters at Stanford and her doctorate at Harvard. She lectured at Stanford, Harvard and Boston University before taking a professorship in molecular biology and genetics at the University of Stallbrook and also running the genetics laboratory there.
== Philosophy ==
Sophie was initially drawn to the philosophy of John Stuart Mill, not only because she agreed with his ideas and intellectual approach, but because she saw parallels between his early life and hers. She shows a strong libertarian and individualist streak in her attitudes and beliefs, and defies conventional political labels. She is clearly a feminist of the individualist and sex-positive variety; she strongly supports sex worker rights, for example, and is skeptical of what she sees as excesses in addressing "sexual misconduct" on campus. Sophie joined the Free Spirit Connection while in Boston, and became a fixture in the Stallbrook Free Spirit community. A major reason she was drawn to the Free Spirits is that, unlike similar humanistic or freethought groups, they did not define themselves in terms of what they were not, but in terms of their positive core values.
== Sexuality and relationships ==
Sophie is bisexual or pansexual, polyamorous, and a BDSM dominant known by the Scene name La Duchessa. Throughout much of the Free Spirits series of books, she has five submissives: Caleb, Corinna, Justin, Persimmon and Tor. In Sophie's Wisdom, Caleb is released from her service when he accepts a new job in another city; she is then approached by Adrian, who eventually joins her retinue. She serves as something of a mentor for Zoe Morton, Adara Khan and Moira Cloutier, as well as her submissives and others in the BDSM community.
Category:Characters
Category:Free Spirits