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Mary-Belle Kirschner (born 23 October 1999), professionally known as Belle Delphine, is a South African-born English
Internet celebrity An Internet celebrity (also known as a social media influencer, social media personality, internet personality, or simply influencer) is a celebrity who has acquired or developed their fame and notability through the Internet. The rise of social ...
, pornographic actress, model, and
YouTuber A YouTuber is an online personality and/or influencer who produces videos on the video-sharing platform YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006. Influence Influe ...
. Her social media accounts feature
erotic Eroticism () is a quality that causes sexual feelings, as well as a philosophical contemplation concerning the aesthetics of sexual desire, sensuality, and romantic love. That quality may be found in any form of artwork, including painting, scu ...
and
cosplay Cosplay, a portmanteau of "costume play", is an activity and performance art in which participants called cosplayers wear costumes and fashion accessories to represent a specific character. Cosplayers often interact to create a subculture ...
modelling, sometimes blending the two together. Delphine's online persona began in 2018 through her cosplay modeling on
Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...
. Her posts on the platform were often influenced by popular memes and trends. In mid-2019, she gained notoriety through creating a satirical
Pornhub Pornhub is a Canadian-owned internet pornography website. It is one of several pornographic video-streaming websites owned by MindGeek. , Pornhub is the 10th-most-trafficked website in the world and the second-most-trafficked adult website aft ...
account and selling her "GamerGirl Bath Water" product through her online store. Shortly after, her Instagram account was deleted due to community guideline violations. After a hiatus from October 2019 through June 2020, she started an
OnlyFans OnlyFans is an internet content subscription service based in London, United Kingdom. The service is used primarily by sex workers who produce pornography, but it also hosts the work of other content creators, such as physical fitness exper ...
account on which she posts adult content and began uploading YouTube music videos that were markedly explicit. Media outlets have described her as an "
e-girl E-girls and e-boys, sometimes collectively known as e-kids, are a youth subculture of Gen Z that emerged in the late 2010s, notably popularized by the video-sharing app TikTok. It is an evolution of emo, scene and mall goth fashion combined w ...
" and a cross between an
Internet troll In slang, a troll is a person who posts or makes inflammatory, insincere, digressive, extraneous, or off-topic messages online (such as in social media, a newsgroup, a forum, a chat room, a online video game), or in real life, with the i ...
and a
performance art Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...
ist. Delphine has also been cited as an influence on the e-girl style commonly adopted by
TikTok TikTok, known in China as Douyin (), is a short-form video hosting service owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which can range in duration from 15 seconds to 10 minutes. TikTok is an international version o ...
users.


Early life

Delphine was born in South Africa on 23 October 1999. She grew up in
Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...
, where she was raised in a devout
Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι� ...
household. After her parents divorced, she and her mother moved to England and settled in Lymington, Hampshire, England. As of December 2020, she was living in
Hove Hove is a seaside resort and one of the two main parts of the city of Brighton and Hove, along with Brighton in East Sussex, England. Originally a "small but ancient fishing village" surrounded by open farmland, it grew rapidly in the 19th ...
, England. In her adolescence, Delphine was "an avid watcher of the anti-
political correctness ''Political correctness'' (adjectivally: ''politically correct''; commonly abbreviated ''PC'') is a term used to describe language, policies, or measures that are intended to avoid offense or disadvantage to members of particular groups in socie ...
genre of YouTubers like
iDubbbz Ian W. (born July 27, 1990), more commonly known as iDubbbz or Ian Carter, is an American YouTube personality. Creator of YouTube channels iDubbbzTV, iDubbbzTV2, and iDubbbzgames, he is best known for his comedy video series, including ''Conten ...
" and also enjoyed watching the parody character Filthy Frank online. She attended Priestlands School in
Pennington, Hampshire Pennington is a ward (electoral and ecclesiastical) in the New Forest District, New Forest district of Hampshire, England, which is defined based on the boundaries of the earlier manor. Pennington Village is at the centre of the ward, with Upper ...
, but dropped out at the age of 14 due to being bullied online. Delphine expressed that she was isolated by her classmates after they disseminated screenshots of her dark humor jokes. Around this time, she was treated for depression. She found work as a waitress, babysitter, and barista. She began posting "low-res and dimly lit" pictures of her cosplay on her Facebook account, which was later deleted.


Online career


Early years and Instagram modelling

Delphine has had an Instagram account since 2015. * In July 2016, she registered a
YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...
account. The following month, she uploaded her first video, a makeup tutorial. In 2018, Delphine began to regularly upload pictures of her modelling on Instagram, using accessories such as pink wigs, thigh-high stockings, and cat ears to help create what she described as a "weird elf kitty girl" aesthetic. She also regularly produced
cosplay Cosplay, a portmanteau of "costume play", is an activity and performance art in which participants called cosplayers wear costumes and fashion accessories to represent a specific character. Cosplayers often interact to create a subculture ...
-related content, which included characters such as
Harley Quinn Harley Quinn is a character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Quinn was created by Paul Dini and Bruce Timm as a comic relief henchwoman for the supervillain Joker in '' Batman: The Animated Series'', and debuted in i ...
and
D.Va D.Va is a fictional player character developed by Blizzard Entertainment for their '' Overwatch'' franchise. She was introduced at launch in their 2016 first-person hero shooter video game of the same name and again appeared in its 2022 sequ ...
. In March 2018, Delphine launched a
Patreon Patreon (, ) is a membership platform that provides business tools for content creators to run a subscription service. It helps creators and artists earn a monthly income by providing rewards and perks to their subscribers. Patreon charges a com ...
account, where supporters could receive access to her "lewd" photosets. In September, she uploaded a second YouTube video featuring a tour of her room. ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...
'' noted that her style in this second video is more in-line with that of the one she later adopted during her rise to prominence, which they described as "alien Disney princess porn star." Delphine's popularity notably increased in the autumn of 2018. She "quickly rose to the top of the 'For You' page on
TikTok TikTok, known in China as Douyin (), is a short-form video hosting service owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which can range in duration from 15 seconds to 10 minutes. TikTok is an international version o ...
", after participating in the platform's trends and challenges. Delphine's image was subsequently spread around
4chan 4chan is an anonymous English-language imageboard website. Launched by Christopher "moot" Poole in October 2003, the site hosts boards dedicated to a wide variety of topics, from anime and manga to video games, cooking, weapons, television, ...
and
Reddit Reddit (; stylized in all lowercase as reddit) is an American social news aggregation, content rating, and discussion website. Registered users (commonly referred to as "Redditors") submit content to the site such as links, text posts, imag ...
, where users praised her "ironic approach to online thotting" as "genius" and "brilliant performance art". Delphine's Instagram follower count surged from 850,000 in November 2018 to 4.2 million in July 2019. Her content began to notably and frequently include ''
ahegao () is a term in Japanese pornography for a facial expression of characters (usually women) during sex, typically with rolling or crossed eyes, protruding tongue, and slightly reddened face, to show enjoyment or ecstasy. The style is often used ...
'' facial expressions, which are exaggerated expressions often featured in adult anime to signify an orgasm. ''
Complex Complex commonly refers to: * Complexity, the behaviour of a system whose components interact in multiple ways so possible interactions are difficult to describe ** Complex system, a system composed of many components which may interact with each ...
'' stated that she "posted clips of herself coyly eating a raw egg, shell and all. A scroll through her feed is just as likely to find colorful thirst traps as it is to see photos of her playing with a dead octopus." As her popularity grew, Delphine began to draw controversy for her content. In January 2019, adult content creator Indigo White alleged that, while underage, Delphine passed off the photos of other sex workers as her own. A February video, in which Delphine danced to a song about suicide while holding a gun, also drew controversy. Shortly after it was posted, false rumors of her death circulated online.


Pornhub account and GamerGirl Bath Water stunts

In June 2019, Delphine made a post on Instagram in which she promised to create a
Pornhub Pornhub is a Canadian-owned internet pornography website. It is one of several pornographic video-streaming websites owned by MindGeek. , Pornhub is the 10th-most-trafficked website in the world and the second-most-trafficked adult website aft ...
account if the post reached 1 million likes. Pornhub responded to the post, calling it "the best news." The post quickly earned over 1.8 million likes; as promised, Delphine created a Pornhub account, to which she uploaded 12 videos. The videos were all troll videos that featured misleading titles and thumbnails and were not sexually explicit. Each of the videos received poor like-to-dislike ratios, ranging between 66% and 77% dislikes. Pornhub Insights published a statistics report detailing that Delphine's videos became the most-disliked in the website's history. One of the videos, titled "PEWDIEPIE goes all the way INSIDE Belle Delphine", was a minute-long clip which featured "a cat ear-clad Delphine ''eating'' a picture of YouTuber
PewDiePie Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg ( , ; born 24 October 1989), better known as PewDiePie ( ), is a Swedish YouTuber known for his Let's Play videos and comedic formatted videos and shows. Kjellberg's popularity on YouTube and extensive media coverage ...
, winking throughout." The video drew a similarly joking response from PewDiePie. Later in 2019, Delphine won the Top Celebrity
Pornhub Award Pornhub is a Canadian-owned internet pornography website. It is one of several pornographic video-streaming websites owned by MindGeek. , Pornhub is the 10th-most-trafficked website in the world and the second-most-trafficked adult website aft ...
. In December, Pornhub's annual statistics report listed Delphine as the most-searched celebrity in 2019; "Belle Delphine" was also the site's fourth-most-searched term in general during the year. On 1 July 2019, Delphine launched her online storefront, including a product dubbed "GamerGirl Bath Water". The product was marketed as the remains of her bath water in a jar and was priced at $30 (£24). Delphine stated that the idea for the product to sell her bath water came from continued fan comments on her photos saying they would drink her bath water. Upon initially selling the product, Delphine added the note: "This water is not for drinking and should only be used for sentimental purposes". The first run of the bath water sold out in three days. The product was met with controversy, media coverage, and
Internet meme An Internet meme, commonly known simply as a meme ( ), is an idea, behavior, style, or image that is spread via the Internet, often through social media platforms. What is considered a meme may vary across different communities on the Internet ...
s. Two days after the bath water product sold out, a website was created attempting to capitalize on its success, selling "GamerGirl Pee" for just under $10,000; this was confirmed not to be associated with Delphine. @BakeRises, a since-banned
Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
user, fabricated a headline alleging that Delphine's product caused a
herpes Herpes simplex is a viral infection caused by the herpes simplex virus. Infections are categorized based on the part of the body infected. Oral herpes involves the face or mouth. It may result in small blisters in groups often called cold ...
outbreak, which was debunked. YouTube video responses also sprung up featuring individuals supposedly drinking, cooking, and vaping the bath water. EJ Dickson of ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...
'' noted that the response to Delphine's gamer girl bath water stunt from media outlets alternated between "deriding Delphine's fans for their naïvete and applauding her for her marketing savvy". Katie Bishop, writing for ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...
'', reported that the sale was "widely mocked". Patricia Hernandez of ''
Polygon In geometry, a polygon () is a plane figure that is described by a finite number of straight line segments connected to form a closed '' polygonal chain'' (or ''polygonal circuit''). The bounded plane region, the bounding circuit, or the two ...
'' opined "What's curious about Delphine's side hustle here is that it seems to be a mixture of business and next-level performance art. In the video advertising the bath water, she outright calls this a stunt. And if you look at her wider Instagram oeuvre, Delphine's work is defined by her willingness to ''go there''." In response to her increased public exposure, Delphine was interviewed by ''The Guardian''; she stated "I'm lucky. I can do crazy things and get to see the world react to it, and there's definitely enjoyment in that, even if it's sometimes a little scary. I get a bigger reaction to my weirder content but I think that's only possible because I also make risqué content". She added "I think it's been amazing and fun, but it's time to move on to new things. I have a diary next to my bed full of crazy ideas. I'm not sure what will top this, but I'm looking forward to seeing what will come next".


Instagram account ban and social media hiatus

On 19 July 2019, Delphine's Instagram account was banned. A spokesperson for Instagram stated that her account had violated the community guidelines, * though the specific post or reason was not provided. At the time of the ban, the "belle.delphine" account had accumulated over 4.5 million followers, according to ''Business Insider'' and
Social Blade Social Blade (sometimes spelled SocialBlade) is an American social media analytics website. Social Blade most notably tracks the YouTube platform, but also has analytical information regarding Twitch, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Tr ...
. ''Business Insider'' reported that there "appeared to be a coordinated effort to report Delphine's account." Delphine continued using her Patreon and Twitter accounts. At one point, her Patreon account had over 4,400 supporters. ''
Polygon In geometry, a polygon () is a plane figure that is described by a finite number of straight line segments connected to form a closed '' polygonal chain'' (or ''polygonal circuit''). The bounded plane region, the bounding circuit, or the two ...
'' noted that "at least one man" spent $2,500 in exchange for a personal
Skype Skype () is a proprietary telecommunications application operated by Skype Technologies, a division of Microsoft, best known for VoIP-based videotelephony, videoconferencing and voice calls. It also has instant messaging, file transfer, debi ...
conversation with Delphine. In late August, Delphine became inactive on her social media platforms, making many Patreon supporters believe they were being scammed out of previously promised upcoming content. On 7 October 2019, Delphine tweeted an image of her mugshot, with a caption detailing that she was arrested. The image contained a "
Metropolitan Police Service The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), formerly and still commonly known as the Metropolitan Police (and informally as the Met Police, the Met, Scotland Yard, or the Yard), is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and ...
" watermark, although there was not any external proof of an arrest from the Metropolitan Police or otherwise. Delphine later stated that someone had stolen her pet hamster at a party and that she vandalised that person's car in retaliation, resulting in her arrest. Online publications and users questioned the authenticity of her claims, while the Metropolitan Police stated they were "unable to disclose any information" regarding the arrest due to the Data Protection Act. Delphine uploaded her fourth YouTube video in November 2019, before taking a break.


Transition to OnlyFans and pornographic content

In June 2020, Delphine returned to social media with a YouTube music video parodying the song "
Gooba "Gooba" (stylized in all caps as GOOBA) is a song by American rapper 6ix9ine. It was released on May 8, 2020, 6ix9ine's birthday, as the first single after his prison release on April 2, 2020. It is the lead single from his second studio album, ...
" by American rapper
6ix9ine Daniel Hernandez (born May 8, 1996), known professionally as 6ix9ine (stylized 6IX9INE and pronounced "six nine") and also as Tekashi69, is an American rapper. His music has been marked by an aggressive style of rapping, while his controversia ...
. The video also promoted her newly-launched Instagram,
TikTok TikTok, known in China as Douyin (), is a short-form video hosting service owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which can range in duration from 15 seconds to 10 minutes. TikTok is an international version o ...
, and
OnlyFans OnlyFans is an internet content subscription service based in London, United Kingdom. The service is used primarily by sex workers who produce pornography, but it also hosts the work of other content creators, such as physical fitness exper ...
accounts. She was later banned from TikTok. ''
The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world. It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''Th ...
'' and ''
Business Insider ''Insider'', previously named ''Business Insider'' (''BI''), is an American financial and business news website founded in 2007. Since 2015, a majority stake in ''Business Insider''s parent company Insider Inc. has been owned by the German publ ...
'' reported that her OnlyFans account draws in over $1.2 million (£1 million) per month. In September, Delphine uploaded a music video for Doll.ia's "Plushie Gun" song, which featured her
twerking Twerking (; possibly from 'to work') is a type of dance that came out of the bounce music scene of New Orleans in the late 1980s. Individually performed chiefly but not exclusively by women, performers dance to popular music in a sexually prov ...
, licking a razor blade, and playing with toy guns. On 20 November, Delphine's YouTube channel was terminated without warning "due to multiple or severe violations of YouTube's policy on nudity or sexual content". This termination occurred almost immediately after Delphine's "Plushie Gun" video was removed for violating the platform's sexual content guidelines. Prior to this, many of her videos had been age-restricted for their adult content. Her channel had around 1.8 million subscribers and 78 million video views prior to its termination. The termination drew criticism from both Delphine and her fans, who questioned if there was a double standard between mainstream celebrities and independent content creators like Delphine. Her channel was shortly reinstated with YouTube attributing the termination to "a mistake by the review team." Around this time, Delphine started posting adult and explicit content on her Twitter account. On 25 December, she uploaded her first homemade
hardcore porn Hardcore pornography, or hardcore porn, is pornography that features detailed depictions of sexual organs or sexual acts such as vaginal, anal or oral intercourse, fingering, anilingus, ejaculation, and fetish play. The term is in contrast wit ...
to her OnlyFans account. In January 2021, Delphine posted images of a staged-kidnapping fantasy shoot, which led to several Twitter users accusing her of promoting rape. Delphine defended her post, stating "there is nothing wrong with enjoying power-play and
BDSM BDSM is a variety of often erotic practices or roleplaying involving bondage, discipline, dominance and submission, sadomasochism, and other related interpersonal dynamics. Given the wide range of practices, some of which may be engaged ...
where both people are consensual." She took another hiatus from the Internet in 2021, sharing on Twitter that she "vowed never to do porn again," wanting instead to live in a cottage and travel. However, in April 2022, she resumed making online content.


Media reception and public image


Surrealist eroticism of content

Delphine's persona and content has garnered curiosity and scrutiny from online users and media outlets alike. Various outlets, including ''
Business Insider ''Insider'', previously named ''Business Insider'' (''BI''), is an American financial and business news website founded in 2007. Since 2015, a majority stake in ''Business Insider''s parent company Insider Inc. has been owned by the German publ ...
'', '' The Cut'', ''
Kotaku ''Kotaku'' is a video game website and blog that was originally launched in 2004 as part of the Gawker Media network. Notable former contributors to the site include Luke Smith, Cecilia D'Anastasio, Tim Rogers, and Jason Schreier. Histor ...
'', and ''
Polygon In geometry, a polygon () is a plane figure that is described by a finite number of straight line segments connected to form a closed '' polygonal chain'' (or ''polygonal circuit''). The bounded plane region, the bounding circuit, or the two ...
'' have described her as a "troll", and several instances of her activity online as "stunts". Many of those outlets also assert that Delphine's often erotic content has a satirical and ironic layer to it. ''Business Insider'' cited one fan response in particular, which likened Delphine to a "2019
Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationsh ...
". Referring to her as "a surrealist troll that became too much for Instagram", the publication also ranked Delphine 89th on the 2019 edition of its UK Tech 100 list. The list's purpose is to feature the one-hundred "most interesting, innovative, and influential people shaping the UK tech scene". The intentionally "weird" aspect of Delphine's social media presence has been often noted in media coverage of her. Alex Galbraith, writing for ''
Complex Complex commonly refers to: * Complexity, the behaviour of a system whose components interact in multiple ways so possible interactions are difficult to describe ** Complex system, a system composed of many components which may interact with each ...
'', commented that her "exceptionally weird" stunts "seem to be satirizing the whole idea of sexiness". Writing for ''
Vice A vice is a practice, behaviour, or habit generally considered immoral, sinful, criminal, rude, taboo, depraved, degrading, deviant or perverted in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a negative character t ...
'', Kitty Guo described Delphine's humour as "tongue-in-cheek and deliberately gross-out", and commented that her modelling shots have a "slick glamour". Bishop wrote that Delphine "has successfully tapped into an online subculture by creating content that exists somewhere between Internet pranks and erotic modelling. For many of her followers, Delphine is a personality before she is a pornographic model". Aoife Wilson, Head of Video at ''
Eurogamer ''Eurogamer'' is a British video game journalism website launched in 1999 and owned by alongside formed company Gamer Network. Its editor-in-chief is Martin Robinson. Since 2008, it is known for the formerly eponymous games trade fair EG ...
'' commented positively on Delphine's online persona and content, asserting that " elphineis an incredibly savvy businesswoman. She gained a huge online following through her love of cosplay and her ability to replicate real-life ''ahegao'' faces. She's kept that momentum going by engaging with her followers and trying new things, always skirting the line between sexy and surreal. She absolutely knows her audience". Writing for ''
Kotaku ''Kotaku'' is a video game website and blog that was originally launched in 2004 as part of the Gawker Media network. Notable former contributors to the site include Luke Smith, Cecilia D'Anastasio, Tim Rogers, and Jason Schreier. Histor ...
'', Joshua Rivera opined that the overt sexuality in Delphine's content was presented satirically, "given her long list of stunts that all tend to subvert or toy with well-established fetish tropes". On the sexuality found in her social media posts, James Cook of ''
The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are popular names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia, publ ...
'' commented on Delphine being "one of a new breed of mostly young social media celebrities to have found a way to harness obsessive, sexualised internet culture to make huge amounts of money", albeit in a "dubious fashion". Delphine has also been noted to be often accused of making herself look younger, particularly to "cater to followers' barely-legal fantasies," due to her regularly using fake braces and styling her hair into pig tails in her posts. Delphine herself views her modelling as falling into the category of erotica, but in December 2020, when asked on if she considers her online activity as performance art, Delphine disputed the idea. Instead, she described her actions as "just jokes," and went on to say she enjoys "playing" around online, calling the internet "a really fun place to tease and mess around with". Her content's use of themes from
Japanese popular culture Japanese popular culture includes Japanese cinema, cuisine, television programs, anime, manga, video games, music, and doujinshi, all of which retain older artistic and literary traditions; many of their themes and styles of presentation can be ...
has also been examined. Originating in 1990s Japanese manga, the ''
ahegao () is a term in Japanese pornography for a facial expression of characters (usually women) during sex, typically with rolling or crossed eyes, protruding tongue, and slightly reddened face, to show enjoyment or ecstasy. The style is often used ...
'' facial expression was specifically cited by media outlets for its frequency and prominence in Delphine's imagery. ''Business Insider'' stated Delphine was "most famous" for her ''ahegao'' photos, while ''The Spectator'' referred to her replication of the facial expression as her "break-out" online. Dickson wrote that the references to Japanese culture in Delphine's content have sparked criticism, as she has been "accused of racism and
cultural appropriation Cultural appropriation is the inappropriate or unacknowledged adoption of an element or elements of one culture or identity by members of another culture or identity. This can be controversial when members of a dominant culture appropriate from ...
in her cosplay, as well as capitalizing on the eroticisation of young girls". Conversely, Japanese adult performer Marica Hase stated "I see her
manga Manga ( Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is ...
characters as more of an homage and not racist".


E-girl and gamer girl persona

Her association with an
e-girl E-girls and e-boys, sometimes collectively known as e-kids, are a youth subculture of Gen Z that emerged in the late 2010s, notably popularized by the video-sharing app TikTok. It is an evolution of emo, scene and mall goth fashion combined w ...
image has been covered in the media, with publications having cited her as influencing the e-girl aesthetic commonly found on
TikTok TikTok, known in China as Douyin (), is a short-form video hosting service owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which can range in duration from 15 seconds to 10 minutes. TikTok is an international version o ...
. ''Kotaku'' and ''Business Insider'' have described Delphine as a "peak self-aware
e-girl E-girls and e-boys, sometimes collectively known as e-kids, are a youth subculture of Gen Z that emerged in the late 2010s, notably popularized by the video-sharing app TikTok. It is an evolution of emo, scene and mall goth fashion combined w ...
", and as a figure that some may point to as "a symbol of the first wave of e-girl", respectively. * Kitty Guo of ''Vice'' also noted that over time, Delphine "moulded herself into the platonic ideal of an e-girl," as her content began leaning more into "a carefully crafted pastel-fairy-princess-anime aesthetic." Guo also labeled Delphine as an " Extremely Online" person. Her association with a
gamer girl The relationship between women and video games has received extensive academic and media attention. Since the 1990s, female gamers have commonly been regarded as a minority. However, industry surveys have shown that over time, the gender ratio h ...
image and its tropes has also been acknowledged. On her polarising social media presence, ''
London Evening Standard The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format. In October 2009, after be ...
'' wrote that Delphine "has sparked a flurry of debate online, with fans branding her everything from a master manipulator to a harmful sexist stereotype of gamer girls." Madeleine Aggeler of ''The Cut'' concurred, commenting:
Delphine herself has become something of an online
Rorschach test The Rorschach test is a projective psychological test in which subjects' perceptions of inkblots are recorded and then analyzed using psychological interpretation, complex algorithms, or both. Some psychologists use this test to examine a pe ...
, a figure in whom people see either a brilliant performance artist making a scathing commentary on the expectations of women online or someone cravenly taking advantage of misogynistic tropes of women gamers and appropriating Japanese cosplay culture."
After the success of Delphine's bath water product, Rivera opined "even the notion of 'gamer girl bath water' plays with all manner of stereotypes about women in games and how some men see them: as mythical unicorns to lust after". Lela London, writing for ''The Telegraph'', opined that "for women to truly escape gaming's gendered grip, we need to raise more non-fetishised Gamer Girls to the top. Belle Delphine is proof there is still quite a way to go." ''Rolling Stones''s EJ Dickson described Delphine's posts as being more "bizarre" and "ridiculous", rather than "overtly sexual", and opined that "Such content appears to indicate that Delphine is leaning into — if not overtly parodying — the perception of the ideal girl as a hot, innocent young thing whose desire to play ''
Fortnite ''Fortnite'' is an online video game developed by Epic Games and released in 2017. It is available in three distinct game mode versions that otherwise share the same general gameplay and game engine: ''Fortnite Battle Royale'', a free-to- ...
'' is only eclipsed by her desire for nerdy gamer boy dick". Dickson also opined on why Delphine attracts much controversy, writing that:
Delphine markets herself as a 'gamer girl', which engages with a very specific stereotype about women in gaming. In the gaming community, there's a longstanding perception of female gamers as desperate attention-seekers who sexualise themselves to get more views and capitalise on horny dudes' desire for nerdy female counterparts.
In 2021, following her transition to OnlyFans, Delphine's account was noted as one of the most popular on the platform; ''
LA Weekly ''LA Weekly'' is a free weekly alternative newspaper in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1978 by Jay Levin, who served as president and editor until 1991. Voice Media Group sold the paper in late 2017 to Semanal Media LLC, whose par ...
'' ranked it as #6 on the site, calling Delphine the platform's "Best Gamer Girl", while ''
Men's Journal ''Men's Journal'' is an American monthly men's lifestyle magazine focused on outdoor recreation and comprising editorials on the outdoors, environmental issues, health and fitness, style and fashion, and gear. It was founded in 1992 by Jann Wenne ...
'' called her "a top cosplay porn star on OnlyFans".


Videography


See also

*
List of YouTubers YouTubers are people mostly known for their work on the video sharing platform YouTube. The following is a list of YouTubers for whom Wikipedia has articles either under their own name or their YouTube channel name. This list excludes people wh ...


Notes


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Delphine, Belle 1999 births 21st-century South African businesswomen Beauty and makeup YouTubers British female models British TikTokers British YouTubers Cosplayers English pornographic film actresses Glamour models Internet-related controversies Internet memes introduced in 2018 Living people Music YouTubers OnlyFans creators Patreon creators People from Cape Town Sexual controversies Social media influencers South African emigrants to the United Kingdom South African erotica people South African female adult models South African female models South African people of British descent South African people of European descent South African pornographic film actresses South African sex workers South African YouTubers Surreal comedy White South African people Women and video games Women satirists YouTube controversies