IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/edt/jsserr/v12y2025i1p417-426.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

An overview of commercial sex work associated with social media in South Africa and its related victimization

Author

Listed:
  • Mandlenkosi Richard Mphatheni

    (School of Social Sciences Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice University of Limpopo, Polokwane South Africa)

  • Khanyisile Berlinda Majola

    (School of Applied Human Sciences, Department of Criminology and Forensic, Studies University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa)

  • Bongolethu Diko

    (School of Applied Human Sciences, Department of Criminology and Forensic, Studies University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa)

  • Sazelo Mkhize

    (School of Criminal Justice, Department of Criminology and Security Science University of South Africa)

Abstract

The rise of social media in South Africa has resulted in several risks linked with its use and exposure. A new type of commercial sex labour camouflaged behind the blesser-blessee notions grew so popular in 2016 that it thrived, thanks to exposure from social media platforms such as X, formerly known as Twitter and Instagram. Previous research has focused on the rationale for the existence of this new commercial sex activity disguised as blesser-blessee. This current study focuses on the commercial sex work associated with social media in South Africa and concomitant victimisation. The qualitative content literature study method and qualitative content analyses were used to analyse the data gathered by reviewing previous studies. The study found that the blesser-blessee relationship violates social morals and exposes the recipient to health risks and unplanned pregnancy. The study recommends improvement of economic participation by young adult females; this will give them economic power and allow them to safeguard themselves from sexual exploitation because they wish to attain a flashy lifestyle.

Suggested Citation

  • Mandlenkosi Richard Mphatheni & Khanyisile Berlinda Majola & Bongolethu Diko & Sazelo Mkhize, 2025. "An overview of commercial sex work associated with social media in South Africa and its related victimization," Social Sciences and Education Research Review, Department of Communication, Journalism and Education Sciences, University of Craiova, vol. 12(1), pages 417-426, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:edt:jsserr:v:12:y:2025:i:1:p:417-426
    DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.15804588
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://sserr.ro/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/sserr-12-1-417-426.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.5281/zenodo.15804588?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Blesser-blessee; commercial sex work; Onlyfans; social media; transactional sex;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • K42 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:edt:jsserr:v:12:y:2025:i:1:p:417-426. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Dan Valeriu Voinea (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://cis01.central.ucv.ro/litere/cadr_juridic/departament_comunicare_jurnalism_stiinte_ale_educatiei/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.