Born Marguerite Aymery, she adopted male clothing and became interested in the issue of sexual inversion, possibly because her father wanted a son instead of a daughter and taught her to associate femininity with worthlessness.

She began a career in journalism and married Alfred Vallette, the then editor of the Mercure de France. In 1884 she published her first novel, Monsieur Vénus, which deals with gender role inversion and cross-dressing. It was considered pornographic and banned in belgium where it first appeared.