Belle Delphine's Ugly Fantasies: Social Media Celebrity Distorts Japanese Culture
By ESENDOM
July 17, 2019
Instagram model Belle.Delphine continues to push boundaries by striking a nerve with the social media community. The NSFW influencer continues to post controversial videos and photos. On Tuesday, July 2nd, the 19-year-old cosplay model posted a photograph of herself holding a bottle of her own bathwater. In the caption, she urges her followers to make the $30 purchase. The caption reads: “i am now selling my BATH WATER for all you THIRSTY gamer boys 💦 check out my new shop where im selling stuff for you!! www.belledelphinestore.com. “
Belle.Delphine followed this post with two bathtub videos. According to Delphine, the bathwater bottles sold out within three days after her initial post. According to Newsweek, one person commented, “God why can’t people get famous for having true talent. It's sickening,” while another person wrote, “i have lost hope in humanity.”
Problematic Antics
Belle Delphine’s antics are problematic for two reasons. First, she is a white woman appropriating Asian culture. Delphine uses makeup to make her eyes more “Asian” and wears clothing of girls found in Hentai. In addition, she uses orientalist tropes and spreads racist stereotypes about non-white or non-European people. Second, Delphine appeals to grown men who fantasize about little girls. Delphine’s attires usually find her in skimpy outfits that mirror hentai anime, where she projects the image of the schoolgirl or young girl. More specifically, Delphine projects Japanese Ahegao, a Japanese term used to describe Japanese pornography describing facial expressions of fictional characters often found in manga and Hentai. Delphine projects distorted images of Japanese culture, thus she creates fantasies, stereotypes and idealizations of cultural elements.
Although some may argue that Delphine is not a porn star and that her posts are innocent, there is proof that this is exactly the image she is trying to project. Delphine recently trolled the Internet by posting a video onto Pornhub. Previously, the 19-year-old promised her followers that she would create her own Pornhub channel if one of her Instagram posts received one million likes. Delphine’s Pornhub videos contain no pornography but include videos with the following titles/captions: “Belle Delphine strokes two BIG cocks” and “Pewdiepie goes all the way inside Belle Delphine.” The former features Delphine with two roosters and a stuff animal, while the latter is a video of Delphine eating a photograph of Pewdiepie.
Delphine is a United Kingdom-based cosplayer and Instagram model. Born Belle Kirschner in 1999, Delphine is originally from South Africa, putting her in a position of privilege. She rose to fame by posting fairy and lingerie photos on Instagram. She has built a legion of fans by appropriating Japanese culture and posting Japanese Ahegao photos.
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