The Belle Delphine Effect

About

The Belle Delphine Effect refers to the perceived effects and consequences on women and men of e-girl Belle Delphine's prevalence online. Believers of the Belle Delphine effect tend to hypothesize that Delphine normalized e-girl makeup and the ahegao face, inspiring women to copy her looks, personality and style to attract a following. Some also believe Delphine inspired e-girls to present themselves as young girls to attract men, possibly helping normalize ageplay. Regarding men, the Belle Delphine effect has been suggested to have encouraged incel behavior and normalized parasocial relationships between men and sex workers through subscription-based sites like OnlyFans. The effect was first perceived online in July 2019 after Delphine's Gamer Girl Bath Water was announced. E-girl Waifu Mia is often cited as a top example of the Belle Delphine effect.

Origin

Belle Delphine is one of the most well-known and prominent e-girls online. She is known for her cosplay content, often dressing as anime or video game characters, and for her young look, achieved through makeup, her generally small stature and braces. She has previously spoken about her interest in the daddy-dom fetish, although says she isn't into the "deep end" of the fetish.^[8] She is considered influential in the e-girl space and has inspired numerous copycats over the years.

The earliest known post referring to the "Belle Delphine effect" is a YouTube^[1] video posted by Thinking-Ape on July 7th, 2019. In the video, he responds to Delphine selling Gamer Girl Bath Water and explores why so many men are so willing to support what he calls "feminine asset entrepreneurs," suggesting that sending money to women like Delphine fosters a perceived artificial romantic connection between the creator and the viewer. The video gained over 16,400 views in four years (shown below).

On July 12th, 2019, a Redditor made a post to /r/unpopularopinion^[9] titled "The Belle Delphine Effect" discussing her Gamer Girl Bath Water, writing:

We can all agree that belle Delphine is kinda a genius, she found a niche market and has finessed us all,.

However it’s a sad reality that people are buying these very strange fetish items, it kinda makes me ashamed to be Male.

My problem is this will clearly have an effect on e thots and Influencers, I’m literally waiting for a new girl to dress up like Nami from one piece and cover her nipples on tape and start selling toe nails and salvia.

The future doesn’t look to bright, this will clearly inspire others to copy and sell more gross items, lemme cop some of that Tana mongeau fanny fart in a bottle £50

Spread

The idea of the Belle Delphine effect spread across social media over the following years. On June 8th, 2020, Twitter^[2] user @lllucas320 posted a screenshot of e-girl skyimhi with e-girl makeup and smiling, showing off her braces, comparing her to Delphine by writing, "the 'belle delphine effect' I don't know why these girls are still doing this dumbass face on their selfies" (shown below).

On March 5th, 2021, Collective Shout^[10] published an article titled, "Belle Delphine: Product of a culture that eroticises children and monetises their sexualisation." In the article, they discuss Delphine's looks and claim she is normalizing the sexualization of children by, in their perception, acting and looking like a child, specifically mentioning her braces and clothing.

On August 29th, 2022, TikToker^[3] @bongwaternballs posted a selfie video where she denounces the Belle Delphine effect, claiming Delphine created a generation of women who "infantilize" themselves for men, garnering over 360,000 views in six months (shown below).

On December 7th, 2022, Twitter^[4] user @yaaburnightmare posted a video of Waifu Mia, who many claims looks like Delphine, writing, "i am a feminist against the belle delphine effect" garnering around 20 likes in two months. On December 30th, TikToker^[5] @ghostgirl177 duetted the same video, writing, "the Belle Delphine effect scares me," garnering over 150,000 views in two months (shown below).

On February 1st, 2023, Twitter^[6] user @BobLeEpicDerpXD retweeted a post of two e-girls posing, one with green hair who some commenters accused of being a child due to her height, although she claims to be 22. The user writes, "anyone who agrees with this take look me in the eyes and explain how this isn’t a symptom of the belle delphine effect," garnering over 850 likes in a month (shown below). They elaborate in a comment, "it’s not the fact that she’s a short woman nobody ever says that shit it’s irrelevant it’s the fact that she’s deliberately making herself look like a child in the face ffs."

On February 3rd, Twitter^[7] user @TheHorrorOf97 pushed back against the idea of the Belle Delphine effect, writing, "there is no belle delphine effect, and belle was not the first to ever act that way. She just had a very active fan base (gamers) […] Childish fem isn’t new."

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References