Thailand’s BL series flies high

A YEAR ago, publisher and writer Jun Matias asked me to join his “Lock and Roll” Facebook discussion on Boys’ Love, or the BL series.

Produced in Thailand, the BL television series has taken Southeast Asia by storm, especially in the time of Covid-19.

The Boys Love TV shows deal with boys who fall in love with other boys. But they are radical in Thailand for the boys depart from the khatoey, or the stereotype of the gay man who is effeminate, swishy and works in the beauty parlors or in entertainment. These boys are butch and good-looking; they play football and used to date girls; they live in beautiful homes and wear stylish clothes. It is almost like your slick television series of love and loss, except that here, the boys fall in love with other boys.

Hendri Go, my informant and tireless organizer of Cebu’s Literary Festival (Liftest), said the Japanese…