The Thai perception of the bounds of masculinity: an analysis of boys’ love drama series

Abstract

The study lays a foundation for understanding gender and sexuality within a Thai sociocultural, political, and economic context and goes on to elaborate how Thai boys' love drama series productions are built upon the foundation of their Japanese and Chinese predecessors. An analysis of the evolution of boys' love drama series within Thailand will be conducted from the years 2014 to 2018, utilizing the Uses and Gratification Theory as well as the Media System Dependency Theory in order to rationalize growth and success of the genre. Queer Theory and Social Constructivism are applied in order to better understanding the shifting conceptions of what is permitted within the bounds of masculinity. In its conclusion, the study illustrates how Thai boys' love drama series productions are not truly subversive of mainstream narratives and, in fact, serve to reinforce them. However, this does not discount the ways in which it allows Thai men to engage in more flexible models of masculinity.