Rachilde’s Snuff Box

Origin
Born Marguerite Vallette-Eymery to abusive and disinterested parents, Marguerite idolized writing and moved to Paris at eighteen to join the burgeoning literary movement. There, she remade herself as Rachilde, sporting a short hairstyle, wearing men’s clothing and flaunting her sexual ambiguity. With a sizable push from liberal actress Sarah Bernhardt, Rachilde started her career in writing. Her novels and poems plainly explored alternative forms of sexuality that were considered taboo during her time, including homosexuality, prostitution, gender ambiguity, sadism and incest. She quickly racked up admirers who cherished her straightforward and outspoken views on sexual preferences, while opponents criticized her as a lewd, indecent figure of the counterculture.

Her non-fiction essays on the other hand where a prop to bolster her own writing and those of authors she befriended. Even many of her friends could not decide whether to love, envy or pity Rachilde, whose uncertain position on her own gender and sexual preferences made friendships complicated. Although she referred to herself as androgynous, she viewed women as inferior and men with contempt. Rachilde engaged in bisexual relationships but did not consider herself as a feminist, blaming a familial curse for her oddness and lack of identity. Most friends considered her passionate with a zest for true life, but always an outsider in worldview.

Effects
Causes overt experimentation in sexuality and identity, making the user cycle through different phases and practices to find their true self. Causes increasing dissatisfaction and cognitive dissonance, where the user has strongly conflicting feelings but proceeds to follow one path, even if they feel more strongly about one side than the other.