BL ODYSSEY: Navigating the Universe of Thai Yaoi Fiction | LT 355 Popular Literature 2024

Thai BL is no second to others; we may be born late, but we come first as the number one export BL series.Welcome everyone to our website, BL Odyssey: Navigating the Universe of Thai Yaoi FictionWhat lies above is a collection of BL fiction that is popular in Thailand as of now in 2024. Since BL has gained popularity, we, English literature students studying LT355: Popular Literature, created this website as an online database, accessible for everyone to explore and delve into the Thai BL universe. While acknowledging the rising popularity within the industry, we also aim to investigate the impact on society.Boy Love Series is increasing, Y Girls are rising, what about Boy Love Fiction? Is it doing well in numbers? To answer this question, we have gathered a wealth of information, including its history, statistics, sub-genres, target audience, and its impact on society. We employ various research methodologies to ensure that you have access to a wide range of information. These include conducting interviews, research papers, and drawing insights from popular online databases. Our goal is to simplify this information for you, making it easier to understand. Whether you are new to the genre or a long-time fan, our website offers a fascinating exploration of the world of Boy Love Fiction. We aim to provide you with a deeper understanding of this genre, enriching your knowledge and appreciation of Thai Yaoi Fiction. So, feel free to explore our website, and we hope you will enjoy this odyssey of discovery.And for those who want to study this topic in a more detailed way, you might want to check out James Welker and Mark J. McLelland books. They write about BL study in asian context a lot. Our website also uses their study as a references, so these book is a good start for anyone who interest and want to dwell into Bl studies.*Y Girls is a Thai name for male slash shippers. Y is from the word Yaoi or Boy Love in Japanese.Please use computer or iPad for best display, as our website may not display well on mobile phones due to layout limitations. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

Introduction—When BL First Came to ThailandWhat is the history of BL (boys love) in Thailand? Does Thailand create and make BL narratives famous? Or are BL narratives an original culture in Thailand? It might be hard to answer these sorts of questions exactly. Yet, if we retrace the words used to describe BL narratives as a genre, we should see that before people name the narratives that contain romantic or sexual relationships between male and male as BL, such narratives are called shōnen’ai and yaoi. Much like when we want to know the history of the café, we might look back to France in the 1660s to get a better understanding of the café. Likewise, if we want to understand how the narratives about male/male relationships are developing, we might also need to look back at the literature history in Japan because shōnen’ai and yaoi are the Japanese words.To understand the history of BL, we should remember that a product, or BL, cannot happen out of nowhere. It has causations. That is, it is a development and dialectic process that produce BL narratives, which we nowadays often see on the shelves in a typical bookstore. Supporters of BL, including Yamamoto Fumiko, claim that the term “BL” had been suggested around the 1990s by a Puff magazine that featured a special feature titled “A Complete Manual to Mastering Boys Love Magazines” (BOY’S LOVE MAGAZINE kanzen kōryaku manyuaru), in the midst of narratives about male/male relationships that were described by various terms, such as “yaoi,” “shōnen’ai,” and “tanbi (aesthetic)” as synonyms. Several BL manga and fiction magazines were introduced by such a special feature under the term “BOY’S LOVE,” a term that appears only in the feature’s title.However, as mentioned above, BL narratives were described by various terms (yaoi or shōnen’ai) before, around the 1990s, the term “BL” became popular in labeling the genre. This leads to the assumption that there were some histories before the 1990s. We should look back a few decades before the 1990s. Let’s set the 1970s, a period sometimes called shōjo manga’s “golden age,” as the starting point for this investigation.1970s (shōnen’ai)BL narratives are created for and, largely, by adolescent girls and women. It initially started to materialize in Japan around 1970s within the rapidly transforming sphere of shōjo (girls’) manga, a broad genre of manga that appeals to readers from preadolescence to the age of adulthood. Shōjo manga’s emergence has often been linked to the publication of Princess Knight (Ribon no kishi, 1953–1955) by the influential male manga artist Tezuka Osamu (1928–1999). The manga Princess Knight is a gender-bending narrative, recounting the adventures of Princess Sapphire traveling around through a European setting, all while dressing like a prince. It is considered by Yonezawa Yoshihiro, the prominent manga critic and historian, as the first shōjo “story manga,” and thus he credits Tezuka because of his introduction of novelistic elements into manga read by shōjo readers.However, Tezuka’s influence on the development of shōjo manga was sometimes not seen as essential enough when bringing jojō-ga (lyrical illustration) to be reckoned with. The jojō-ga is the style that depicts girls with a lithe and delicate form, with large sparkling eyes and an “empty, wandering gaze.” The girls are often illustrated with a flowery background, which art critics and scholars believed reflected their inner personalities. Takahashi Macoto (1934–), the male illustrator and manga artist, incorporated this flowery background and twinkling big eyes into the shōjo manga format in the mid-1950s, with a big focus on those sparkling wide eyes that revealed characters’ “inner psychology,” which encourages readers to identify with them. The highlight of the internal psychology of female characters became a central element in the shōjo manga of the 1970s, a shōjo manga’s golden age. The age is described as a period when a new generation of young female artists took over its creation from the male artists who had previously handled its production.In the 1970s, three female artists, Ikeda Riyoko (1947–), Hagio Moto (1949–), and Takemiya Keiko (1950–), expanded on those visual conventions developed in shōjo manga, including experimentation with the layout and shape of panels. What followed was an ongoing focus on the characters’ thoughts and emotions developing. Similarly, this new generation also introduced a greater diversity of themes along with narratives with more complex plots and characters. In addition, they also borrowed widely from foreign and Japanese literature, film, history, and myth. As a result, some shōjo manga works are regarded as high literature and are not dismissed by the general public. Later, Ikeda, Hagio, Takemiya, and other young female artists who transformed shōjo manga in the 1970s became known as the Fabulous Year 24 Group (Hana no nijūyo’nen-gumi), and their work on the development of a genre of shōjo manga came to be in turn labeled as “shōnen’ai” (boys love).These highly literary manga narratives called shōnen’ai, printed widely in shōjo manga magazines, featured male protagonists in same-sex romantic and sometimes overtly sexual relationships. This style of narrative will hold sway in the 1970s of Japan onwards; later, it will develop to the point that people sometimes call it yaoi.Development of shōnen’aiHagio Moto and Takemiya Keiko are most closely linked to the birth of shōnen’ai manga. In particular, Hagio’s The Heart of Thomas (Tōma no shinzō, 1974) and Takemiya’s The Song of the Wind and the Trees (Kaze to ki no uta, 1976–1984) set the stage for a boom in shōnen’ai manga in the 1970s and beyond, as well as the rise of amateur works toward the end of the decade and the flourishing of the commercial boys love genre since the 1990s. It was no accident that Takemiya and Hagio, who wrote the most influential shōnen’ai works, produced male/male romance narratives less than a year apart. The pair lived in a small apartment in Ōizumi, in Tokyo’s Nerima Ward, and were roommates for several years since December 1970. Their neighbor was Masuyama Norie (1950–), who was soon thereafter to become Takemiya’s producer, roommate, and brain. Under the guidance of Masuyama, Takemiya and Hagio’s apartment became the “Ōizumi Salon,” where up-and-coming shōjo manga artists, assistants, and others would gather and work, eat, or chat, sometimes staying over for extended periods.Masuyama was important in shaping the shōnen’ai genre and introduced Takemiya and Hagio to some of her favorite novels. Masuyama was an avid consumer from childhood of highbrow literature, classical music, and film, and she was disappointed with early shōjo manga. For this reason, she wanted to raise it from its lowly position into a more serious literary art form. Drawn to the talents of Takemiya and Hagio, Masuyama recommended to them various works of highbrow literature, films, and music in the hopes that these would encourage them to use elements in those highbrow works in their own production.German novelist Herman Hesse’s Beneath the Wheel (1906), Demian (1919), and Narcissus and Goldmund (1930) were among the books Masuyama recommended to Takemiya and Hagio. All three novels involve adolescent male protagonists in school environments in Germany. While none of the three depicts overt homoeroticism, their narratives all revolve around strong bonds between the male protagonist and another male youth character. Later, these novels will serve as key source material for early shōnen’ai works, helping to inspire the boarding school settings common in early works, the focus on the psyches of the characters, and the balance between the masculine and the feminine characters. The influence of German culture on shōnen’ai works can also be seen in the term used to describe male/male romance narratives at that time because Masuyama, Takemiya, and Hagio first labeled such narratives with the term “kunaaben riibe,” a transliteration of the German term Knabenliebe, which means “boy love.”1980s (Yaoi and Fan Contribution)In December 1975, a year after Hagio’s The Heart of Thomas was published, the first “Comic Market” was held at a public hall in Toranomon in Tokyo’s Minato Ward and will grow exponentially onwards. Yonezawa Yoshiro and a few other people, mostly young men, first developed the Comic Market as a cheap way to share and trade a variety of independently produced manga. It soon became synonymous with the buying and selling of dōjinshi (coterie magazines) of wildly diverse quality and content, ranging from prose fiction and original and parodic manga to video games, anime, and manga criticism. Though over its forty-year history, the Comic Market has also been used by commercial publishers to find new talent and has grown more commercialized, it has also given amateur and even established professional artists a “place” (ba) for creative expression over the limitations in the commercial publishing industry.

Many shōjo manga circles participated in the first few years of the Comic Market, including fans of specific artists as well as those who showed an interest in glam and hard rock musicians that were linked to beauty and, occasionally, homosexuality, especially those from the UK like David Bowie, T. Rex, Queen, and Led Zeppelin. Around this period, some dōjinshi circles did begin producing works with more overtly homosexual narratives. These works may have been inspired by a combination of commercially published shōnen’ai narratives, rock star rumors, and homo magazine representations of homosexuality. And by the early 1980s, the term “yaoi,” which has become a truly global term for male homoerotic manga and anime, was starting to be used to refer to these amateur homoerotic dōjinshi. Members of the well-known Ravuri (Lovely) manga circle coined the term as a broad, self-deprecating evaluation of all dōjinshi, and people began assigning the label to the male homoerotic narratives and playing with it.Dōjinshi are distributed throughout Japan at both big and small dōjinshi “spot sale events” (sokubaikai), of which the Comic Market is the largest and most well-known. Although today dōjinshi frequently have a “prohibition” against resale, they are regularly resold by people via online auctions and other resale websites, as well as at specialty shops, which also often sell dōjinshi online. At last, original yaoi dōjinshi manga have been collected into anthologies and published commercially, at least since the 1980s.1990s (Becoming a BL Industry)The wave of amateur dōjinshi artists draws attention from Sagawa Toshihiko, who later started JUNE, the first commercial magazine for adolescent girls and young women featuring male/male relationship narratives. JUNE quickly rose to be the influential magazine that popularized such narratives with the help of making the dōjinshi market tangible for the reason that it ran ads, inviting people to participate in their manga circles, make dōjinshi, and promote the dōjinshi themselves. The availability of June provided countless readers with not only access to homoerotic narratives by well-known and up-and-coming professional manga artists but also the chance to take part in the creation and consumption of such stories outside of commercial channels, something that would not have been possible outside of events like the Comic Market.Around the 1990s, other magazines like JUNE emerged, and they wanted to distinguish themselves with a tagline. For the tagline of JUNE, the magazine was about “now, opening our eyes to dangerous love” (ima, kiken na ai ni mezamete). Additionally, Gust magazine also identified itself as a “YAOI COMIC,” whereas Kid’s magazine identified itself as a “naughty girls’ comic” (ikenai onna no ko komikku). In 1991, Image, one of the BL magazines leading this movement, made its debut with the words “BOY’S LOVE ♥ COMIC” across the top of its cover, which was almost definitely a rephrasing of the term “shōnen’ai manga” from the 1970s. The sister magazine Shōsetsu Image debuted the following year with a cover that read “BOY’S LOVE NOVELS” in a similar fashion. Whether because of its connection with an existing term or because of the way it resonated with readers and creators or for some other reason, “boys love” became popular as a generic term through the 1990s. Eventually, the term was shortened to “BL.”As we can see, the BL market has grown to become more than just a local small market—rather, it has emerged as an industry. For this reason, its influence may spread throughout Japan, particularly during the 1990s period of cultural hybridity when different countries were more easily able to communicate with one another. It is plausible, then, that the BL narratives also made their way to Thailand.1996 to early 2000s: the Black Hole PeriodBL novels became illegal because they were seen as pornographic media (whether there is erotic scenes in the novel or not). Sellers and buyers could be arrested because of BL and therefore, this era was known in the community of BL readers as “the black hole period.” During the black hole period, readers could still purchase physical BL copies. However, the transaction had to be done secretly. There were sting attempts where undercover police would try to buy physical BL novels from local bookstores or directly from authors via online platforms. These attempts made bookstores come up with secret codes that readers could tell the seller in order to buy the books. Another popular method was readers would have to answer several questions that tested their knowledge on BL such as how long they had been reading BL for, what their favorite BL novel was, what their favorite ship was, etc. If readers could answer all of the questions and were considered as real readers, then, they could get their hands on the BL novel they wanted.The year 2005 came the biggest change in the Thai comic industry. What is now dubbed as another “ยุคหลุมดำ” or “the Black Hole Age” had created such a big impact on Japanese manga industry in Thailand, as well as the community surrounding it that still lingers even decades later.It started with a TV Burubha’s popular TV show “หลุมดำ” (Black Hole), which talked about the “dark side” of society. On August, 2005, an episode which was named “การ์ตูนสายพันธุ์ใหม่ ใครคือเหยื่อ” (New breed of Cartoons: Who are the victims?) expressed concerns over the obscene and inappropriate -- even deemed pornographic -- content of the comic book industries,especially those from Japan. The impact of the episode was immediate. Many people, mostly teenagers at the time, said that their mangas and cosplay costumes were gotten rid of or even burnt by their parents. Of course, BL media or “Yaoi” were affected as well. The genre, which had been seen as niche and “underground” prior to this, had to become even more secretive.Panthip, a Thai webboard website which was very active at the time, was the main platform of discussion. Sorayuth Suthassanachinda, a Thai TV presenter, decided to bring some people in the manga community to present their perspectives in his show “ถึงลูกถึงคน.” This action was praised by the people in the community at the time, to both Sorayuth and those who spoke up in the show.Even if this era in the Thai manga community had ended, the effect of it is still felt. For some, Japanese media and the community surrounding it, including cosplayers and doujinshis (self-published books) are still seen as perverted and causes for moral concerns.2005: the Internet AgeSince then, BL experienced a significant evolution with the emergence of the internet. The rise of online forums and social media platforms, notably Dek-D.com, would allow the fandom additional ways to connect and engage with their favorite content. The internet era’s format posed fewer limitations than the earlier physical books, which allowed different kinds of literary works to be published much more easily with greater audience reach. The BL fandom is no longer a niche that has to avoid the government’s intrusions, as everyone can interact with the community in the comforts of their own home. However, the internet is not only beneficial for the readers, but it was also a space for aspiring authors to share their works. To this day, many of the early internet BL novels can still be found on websites with regular engagement. The success of Dek-D’s Love Sick novel written by Indrytimes from 2008 to 2011, gathered over 1 million reads, it was further adapted to TV series in 2014, bringing the media to the masses.The Present DaysIn 2007, the movie The Love of Siam (2007), a love story between two teenage boys among family dramas, hit the theaters. The movie was so popular and well-received that it paved the way for uprising on-screen BLs. BL media started to become more accepted by the public, but most of them were still published online. Only a small number of these novels made it to actual publishers. Some writers decided to independently publish their own novel, taking pre-orders from fans and, then, went to print out the books. The major revolution happened in 2014. Although started out as an online novel published on Dek-D website, Lovesick the series (2014) is the first BL series to hit the silver screens and instantly became a hit show and the rest is history. Publishers and big broadcasters saw potential in BL and, eventually, started to push BL to a wider audience. These novels slowly took more shelves in big bookstores like Se-Ed and Naiin until the stores are now filled with a variety of BL genres, thus ending the era of underground transactions.In 2020 which we were still in a pandemic lockdown, 2gether the series (คั่นกู) starring Vachirawit “Bright” Chivaaree and Metawin “Win” Opas-iamkajorn shook the entire world. The series was one of the most watched series during the pandemic in countries like China, Japan, Indonesia, Thailand, etc. The actors instantly became A-list celebrities afterwards. It goes to show the power of BL and its readers that can create new stars, bring in millions of baht, and stimulate Thai economy.In 2023, there were a total number of 67 Boy’s Love TV shows including To Sir, with Love (คุณชาย), My School President (แฟนผมเป็นประธานนักเรียน), You Cutie Pie 2 You (นิ่งเฮียก็หาว่าซื่อ), Moonlight Chicken (พระจันทร์มันไก่), Feel You Linger in the Air (หอมกลิ่นความรัก), and Cherry Magic (30 ยังซิง).

References:https://so01.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/EAUHJSocSci/article/view/76268If you are interested in BL narratives, this research article provides detail at how objectified gazes have shifted from females to males. In traditional media, women often served as the objects of male gaze. However, in BL stories, it is the males who become the object of gaze instead. This article is short and gets straight to the point, offering a concise overview of the history and development of BL narratives in Japan. It is particularly useful for those looking for a quick yet informative introduction to the topic. If you are seeking a starting point for understanding BL in Japan, this article, written in Thai, is a good resource.https://idcneu.com/neunic2023/file_article/hss/neunic2023-hss-03.pdfThis research article analyzes BL literature within the context of Thai society. It is written in Thai and provides a deep dive into how BL stories relate to cultural and social dynamics in Thailand. If you want a detailed analysis, this article might be worth your time. However, if you are looking for a basic overview, you might find other resources more helpful.http://isas.arts.su.ac.th/wp-content/uploads/2562/history/05590707.pdfThis research article is written in Thai. It explains how BL narratives were established in Japan, along with a discussion on how these narratives transitioned into Thailand. If you are interested in understanding the origins of BL and its spread to other cultures, this article is worth reading.https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt13x1spgThis book, written in English, provides a comprehensive overview of BL for researchers and enthusiasts alike. It covers a wide range of topics, including theory, history, and the evolution of BL narratives. Whether you are a beginner or already familiar with BL, this book offers valuable insights and information that you should know. If you want to truly understand BL, this is a must-read. It caters to readers of all levels, from those new to BL to those who are well-acquainted with the genre.

IntroIn Thailand, along with Dek-D, ReadaWrite has been used mostly by people among Generation Y. Many kinds of literary work are published on the site, including BL works which are greatly popular, recently. In this kind of work, there are popular sub-genres that you can find when you search for the works through tags. Omegaverse and Mpreg are such categories that will pop up when you tap on the text “tag.” It will recommend tags that are tagged the most in the works.

Not only on ReadaWrite, Dek-D which is one of the most popular e-book platforms also has these kinds of work in great amounts, as shown in the pictures below.The evidence proves the popularity of Mpreg and Omegaverse to be certain; as they are shown in the pictures, on Dek-d, the amount of work tagged as omegaverse is 1,479 and the total of work tagged as Mpreg is 2,298. These numbers lead us to question their popularity — why do these sub-genres become so prominent in Thai BL works? What do these reflect in our society?Therefore, in this section, we will discuss Mpreg and Omegaverse from their structures to the problems insinuated through their general characteristics found in the sub-genres.Brief Definition of SubGenreBefore delving any further, it might be useful to understand how subgenres become subgenres. According to OxfordReference, sub-genre is defined as “any category of literary works that forms a specific class within a larger genre,” while genre means “a grouping of texts related within the system of literature by their sharing features of form and content.” — but how is sub-genre different from genre? One can say that the difference is the extent of them. While a genre has a broad scale because of its loose characteristics, the sub-genre has more specific traits and, henceforth, is narrowed from a genre that some of its traits derive from.What is Mpreg?There’s a long human history of male ‘pregnancy’, or Mpreg, through folklore, mythology, and oral speech, which is the function that makes cismen get pregnant like females. However, in those ancient stories, there were not any clear descriptions or evidence that it was a male “giving birth,” many stories used metaphors that refer to “giving birth” or using the sexuality transformation instead. The most famous story of male pregnancy is from Greek and Norse myths.The thigh birth of Dionysus is one of the first mentioned myths of the closest concept of Mpreg. Dionysus is the well-known god of fruitfulness and vegetation, as well as the god of wine and ecstasy. There are two versions of his birth story: first, he is the son of Zeus, the god of thunder, and Samale, a normal mortal. In this first story, he is a demi-god and needs many conflicts to prove his values to become the god of abundance. Another version is the remarkable influence on male pregnancy: Dionysus's birth from Zeus’s thigh, for this reason, Zeus becomes both mother and father to Dionysus, an impactful influence on the development of Male pregnancy.However, the origin of this thigh birth story might be much more than the gender ability in Greek society, but the story's ulterior reconciles with the Periclean law of citizenship at that time: The citizen of Athen must be born from both Athenian mother and father. This version that assures Dionysus of being pure God is a metaphor for Athenian citizens requiring a pure Athenian too.Another famous myth is from Norse mythology. Loki, the trickster god, is pregnant and gives birth to the three monsters: Hel, Fenrir, and Jorgumandr, despite Loki transforming into a female horse to get pregnant, the theme of male pregnancy still covers the story undeniably. It is another influence on male pregnancy development.Why did it become popular?Many readers might find ‘regular pregnancy’ from heterosexual romance uncomfortable with the underlying patriarchal and misogyny in the stories. The female MC (main character) in Heterosexual romance often gets blamed if she, accidentally or not, conceived, in addition, her feelings about pregnancy are absent with the concept that she should be ‘happy’ with her pregnancy, to have her child.With the unbalanced authority in heterosexual romance relationships between lead characters, in which male characters often have ‘more’ power than females in the relationship. Therefore, some readers want to escape the repetitive misogynistic dynamics of ‘regular pregnancy’ to ‘male pregnancy’ in which, at least, gender has no effects or plays in the power dynamics since the lead characters are both males.When the male character gets pregnant, the new feeling and viewpoint toward pregnancy have been shaped and introduced. The mixed feeling between being the powerful gender in the complex situation: pregnant, probably, is the important factor that readers want to discover and explore from this subgenre, so Mpreg is continuing popular subgenre in the BL fiction world.Problems with MpregThese days, LGBTQ+ society has gained recognition from the public too, evidently in entertainment media. There is space for gay people to act, direct, write, and be in the stories that will be shown to the public eyes. The problem is that the T in LGBTQ+, which stands for transgender, seems to have less spotlight and some were taken to cis (a person whose gender identity corresponds with the sex registered for them at birth) gay men. There are a lot of supposedly cis-gay men love stories that were labeled as M-preg. The reason people enjoyed M-preg genre was shown by research by Jess Taylor Weisser, showing that the reasons for someone to enjoy M-preg genre include “enjoyment of domestic/family-themed narratives." But the problem is that some of them also used “MPreg fulfills kinks or sexual fantasies." Apparently, pregnancy is just a sexual fantasy for some people, which could mean that they just want to sexualize a man, are forced to be more feminine with the theme of motherhood, and lack of awareness that male pregnancy is not a fantasy.Male pregnancy exists if one or both of the partners are transmen (the person that assigned female at birth who identified as male) which means if they did not go to a hysterectomy (a surgical procedure to remove the womb (uterus)), they will be able to get pregnant despite being a man. If those writers and readers want to enjoy a story where men can get pregnant, they can do research and find that there are a few cases of men's pregnancy (such as Thomas trace beatie) that they can use as case studies. Yet some writers choose to ignore transgender identity when a desire to create a so-called happy family with kids still lingers and surrogacy is perceived as an immoral thing. So, those writers chose some of the identities of FTM (female trans male) that they saw as convenient to their story without real awareness.The reasons why this is problematic are not only that it may be the root of being transphobic, which is “rejection of trans identity and a refusal to acknowledge that it could possibly be real or valid," since they are not relevant in the world that any cis men can get pregnant. But also a possibility that some readers truly believe that cis men can get pregnant if M-preg stories get reproduced over and over again and that it becomes normal.What is OmegaverseOmegaverse or ABO verse is one of the most popular subgenres in the BL community. Omegaverse is an alternate universe that typically appears in erotic slash fanfiction, in which each human has a secondary gender known as Alpha, Beta, or Omega, and these secondary genders are also used to determine social status.• Alpha(α) Elite group or ruler. The majority of them possess strong leadership qualities. They can impregnate an omega, regardless of gender.• Beta(β) Middle-class group. Have the body and behavior of a normal human being.• Omega(Ω) is The lowest class group. Omegas are the most oppressed underclass in the Omegaverse. They can get pregnant whether they are female or male.Character behavior in the Omegaverse is inspired by wolf pack behavior, which employs a hierarchy system. As a result, human behavior in the omegaverse draws heavily on animal behavior. For example, each human in the omegaverse has a pheromone scent, which is stronger during the rut and heat season, just like animals, or Alphas may use the scent of pheromone to announce their ownership and oppress other Alphas. Since Omegaverse is a popular subgenre with no established canon universe, it is constantly evolving and adding new content. As a result, Omegaverse can be described as a shared concept that each author has interpreted in different ways.The Origin of OmegaverseThe Omegaverse first appeared in the Supernatural fandom in the early 2010s. On May 17, 2010, an anonymous user on the Supernatural Kink Community page of the Live Journal website requested a Jared and Jensen fanfic with the following content:"AU - Their world is just like ours...except...in their world there are two types of men. One is the alpha male, the other is the bitch male. Alpha males are like any ordinary guy with the exception of their cocks, they work just like dog cocks (the knot, tons of cum etc) The bitch male, is just an ordinary guy without the special cock.[…]"Later, on July 24, 2010, a user named 'tehdirtiestsock' posted a fanfiction based on the comment request above, titled "I ain't no lady, but you'd be the tramp. (dog-like j2)" in Live Journal, making it become the first omegaverse fiction. Although the term "omegaverse" has not yet been defined in this fanfiction, the characters' behavior later became a model for the behavior of Omegaverse characters. After that, the Omegaverse plot was developed and new content, such as animal behaviors and subtle details, was added based on each writer's imagination, giving the Omegaverse a more fantasy and interesting appearance.The omegaverse's popularity has quickly spread beyond supernatural fandom to many different fandoms in both Western and Eastern countries, especially in Japan and China. Omegaverse has grown in popularity since 2017, and they happen to be very popular in the BL community, both in original novels and fanfiction. There are currently 178,571 Works in Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics on the fan fiction website Archive of Our Own and is likely to continue increasing.ReferenceCherry. (2022, November 9). Who invented the omegaverse anyway?. Ficsation. https://www.cherrypickett.com/2022/11/09/who-invented-the-omegaverse-anyway/Cherry. (2021, May 18). A brief history of mpreg: Ficsation - official site of Cherry Pickett. Ficsation. https://www.cherrypickett.com/2021/05/18/a-brief-history-of-mpreg/Leitao, David D. The Pregnant Male as Myth and Metaphor in Classical Greek Literature, 30 Apr. 2012, https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9781139083638.Weisser, Jess Taylor. "Gendering the Pregnant Male in Fan-Fiction Communities." https://research.ncl.ac.uk/expeditionresearchscholarships/postergalleries/2018posters/Jess%20Weisser.pdf
Accessed 23 Mar. 2024.

To illustrate the different facets of BL’s audiences, data has been gathered via an online survey which contains information regarding gender identity, sexual orientation, frequency of consumption of BL content and the respondents’ reason for doing so and continuing to do so, and more.In the beginning, a precedent had been set by the researchers that a largely significant portion of the BL consumers will identify as female. After the survey had concluded, the data gathered illustrates that this precedent was in fact highly accurate. Interestingly, more that half of the respondents identify themselves as someone on the LGBTQ+ spectrum regarding sexual orientation, which should not be surprising since BL is a form of representation for the LGBTQ+ community. Overall, it is safe to say that many precedents set by the researchers before commencing the research have shown to be accurate to a certain degree, despite some points of information being too complex and interconnected to set a precedent for.Objective of the study:To research Thammasat students' reading and viewing behaviors on BL content.
The research's outcome is:

Sex: 76.6%of female, 14% of malethe remaining 8.4% are unwilling to identify their sex. The percentage of female participants is obviously higher than the number of male participants.Sexual orientation: 32% of Heterosexual, 68% of LGBTQIA+The frequency of consuming BL literature or media:
・33.6% of respondents who consuming BL literature or media 2-3 times a week
・19.6% of respondents who consuming BL contents every day
・13.1% of respondents who consuming BL contents 4-6 times a week
・14% of respondents have never consumed BL contents
・18% of respondents consuming BL contents once in a whileThe time spent of consuming BL Literature or Entertainment media:
・13.1% of respondents have never consumed BL contents
・36.4% of respondents have been consuming BL contents for 6-10 years
・22.4% of respondents have been consuming BL contents for 3-5 years
・9.3% of respondents have been consuming BL contents for 1-2 years
・8.4% of respondents have been consuming BL contents for less than a year
・8.4% of respondents have been consuming BL contents for more than 10 years

The reason for consuming BL Literature or Entertainment media:
・68% of respondents say it is to relieve stress.
・49% of respondents say they like BL genre
・49% of respondents say they like fanfictionHowever, the majority of readers in BL literature give so out of personal preference and as a way to relieve stress. Further, a key factor in reading BL literature is fanfiction reading habits.The reason behind their first consuming BL literature or entertainment media:
・56% of respondents say they discovered BL content advertised on social media platforms (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram)
・38% of respondents say they receive recommendations from friends and streaming services (BiliBili, iQiyi, Viu, Netflix)
・18% of respondents say they are a part of LGBTQIA+ Community and other reasonsPlatform of consumption:BL literature or entertainment media:
・84% of respondents consume BL content online platforms. For example, ReadaWrite, Netflix, WeTV, IQIYI, Viu, Webtoon etc.
・48% of respondents consume offline media i.e books or theater and otherPopular forms of BL literature or entertainment media among responders:
・42% of respondents consume BL contents as a novel
・48% of respondents consume BL content as a Manga/ Manhwa/ Webtoon/ Comico
・48% of respondents consume BL content from series or movie form
・57% of respondents consume BL content as an online novel (Dek-D/ReadaWrite/ธัญวลัย/AO3) and other platform

Respondent’s preference for other genres of literature or entertainment media:
・75.7% of respondents say Yes
・22.4% of respondents say No
・0.9% say indifferentOther genres of literature or entertainment media that respondents prefer to consume
I.e Children's literature, investigative fiction, romantic fiction, period fiction, translated fiction, and any literature that have LGBTQIA+ as a main characterConclusionFrom the study, we discover interesting points: BL literature readers are mostly female, and the sexual orientation is more likely LGBTQIA+. The other point is that the time period that readers have been reading BL literature is between 6 and 10 years. From this set of information, the majority of respondents have started to consume BL contents due to the influence of online promotion, fan fiction, and being part of the LGBTQIA+ community. The majority of BL content is consumed online, including novels, movies, series, manga, and comic books. Other than an interest in consuming BL contents, the survey also discovers that the respondents also have an interest in reading other genres such as young adult literature, detective literature, romantic, period, translated, or LGBTQIA+ protagonist fiction. To conclude, fanfiction and being a part of the LGBTQIA+ community are the main reasons that influenced people to start reading BL literature.There are three interviewees who volunteered to answer questions and explore additional opinions on topics related to BL novels and social issues, which the team found interesting and beneficial for this survey.Question: Do you know BL?1. A student from the Faculty of Liberal Arts, Chinese Studies major, Thammasat University: Yes, I do.2. A student from the Faculty of Communication Arts, Chulalongkorn University: Yes, I do, but I don’t read or keep track for updates.3. A writer, an alumni of the Faculty of Liberal Arts, English Language and Literature major, Thammasat University:
I have known them for a long while, but I wasn’t here when the genre started blowing up. I came to know about them later. I started out as just another regular literature student who mostly reads canon or mainstream work. At that time, BL was more of an underground thing. This was back when bookshelves or cartoons for BL would be hidden away in corners with cloth barriers. That was just how it was. Unlike today, we had to walk into a mysterious zone as if BLs were something forbidden. It was almost unthinkable then for BL to be on the top shelves as bestsellers like nowadays.So yeah, initially, I developed a negative perception of BL, like the genre was something that was prohibited and stigmatized.As for when I started getting immersed in the genre, both for reading and writing and having a more positive note towards the genre, was probably around 2008, which was slower than most.Question: Why do you like BL?1. A student from the Faculty of Liberal Arts, Chinese Studies major, Thammasat University: Why do I like BL? Actually, I grew up being a fan. It is like a culture in the fandom that has been passed on to me without realizing. As I spend more time in the fandom, I become absorbed by it as well. Eventually, I am fine with it. Since I only consume this genre, it has become my preference naturally.3. A writer, an alumni of the Faculty of Liberal Arts, English Language and Literature major, Thammasat University: At first, it may be because of being a K-pop fan. Which is understandable, right? So yeah, I started as a K-pop fan first, and then a friend asked if I could write fanfics for a (homosexual) pairing.I remember myself having been into mainstream heterosexual novels since forever during freshman year. I even wrote them. Then, when my friend told me to write for BL, I did not feel good about it at first. It felt like I had to go against my own will for the sake of my friend. The turning point might have been around the third year of university when I discovered I liked women. It was a feeling that just came to me naturally. That is when I understood how genuine love can be between people of the same sex.Question: How often do you read it?1. A student from the Faculty of Liberal Arts, Chinese Studies major, Thammasat University: Whenever I choose something to read, I always tend to go for this genre first. So, very often indeed.3. A writer, an alumni of the Faculty of Liberal Arts, English Language and Literature major: I think I am a bit different from the others. I admit that I don’t read many Yaoi novels (and I know saying it like this doesn’t sound very nice) because I can hardly find good novels that I want to read. Many Yaoi novels that have been released lately are mostly written by amateur writers, and they do not meet the standard I fancy. So that’s why I barely read Yaoi novels these days. Even before now, I have only read a few Yaoi novels by other writers, except for work reasons; I read very little BL for entertainment.Question: Besides BL, what genre of books do you like to read?1. A student from the Faculty of Liberal Arts, Chinese Studies major, Thammasat University: Personally, I enjoy reading Korean Manhwa in the fantasy genre, where characters are reincarnated for revenge. I quite like this genre because of its beautiful artworks and clichè plot. I can leisurely read it when the content does not rely on rationalities.2. A student from the Faculty of Communication Arts, Chulalongkorn University: I like detective, mystery, and somewhat romance.3. A writer, an alumni of the Faculty of Liberal Arts, English Language and Literature major, Thammasat University: To be honest, I’m not picky about genres, but if I have to choose, I would avoid Thai BL works. I’ve been disappointed quite often in the past by Thai works, and so now I feel like they’re a waste of time. The Thai BL industry has been stuck in place for a long time now. Of course, I understand why many writers tend to be like this. It’s not because they lack talent; I myself am a writer, of course I wouldn’t criticize my fellow Thai writers as incompetent. However, there are just a lot of limitations imposed on Thai writers in Thai BL circles.Right now, I prefer translated Chinese novels, of which there are plenty. These translated novels are one of the reasons why Thai writers are outmatched, but it really cannot be helped. Translated Chinese novels nowadays are written very well in every aspect, especially in terms of plot. They slayed it. They can do anything, from short two-parters to long ten-volume series, in all sorts of genres, too: sci-fi, fantasy, historical China, they absolutely excel in every single one of them. That’s why I currently have a preference for translated Chinese novels.

Question: Do you think BL fetishizes men? Is it making the love between two men into a fantasy to fulfill one's desires? For example, male characters being able to get pregnant in BL, in the mpreg genre.  (Male Pregnancy)1.A student from the Faculty of Liberal Arts, Chinese Studies major, Thammasat University said: Personally, it is more of a genre of writing. If we consider it as a fantasy genre that includes Mpreg (Male Pregnancy), it is a style of writing that allows for expanded storytelling. For example, we choose to write Mpreg because we aim to write for the sequel, featuring characters who are biologically related with characters from the prequel. In reality, this might not be possible, for men can not get pregnant, right? But if we include Mpreg, the story can progress more flawlessly. I see it is more about the intention behind the writing. Mostly, they do not include Mpreg without a reason. So, I think it is not about fetishizing men.2. A student from the Faculty of Communication Arts, Chulalongkorn University: Yes, in the case of entertainment media, like Thai BL series. The love between men has been commercialized to cater for fans. If they do not want it to be commercial or a fantasy for a particular group, media producers should present the media in more diverse forms. For instance, the top could have feminine traits as much as the bottom. However, in the BL industry, the portrayal often repeats the same pattern, where the tops must be more masculine, having a bigger and stronger physique compared to the bottoms who are more feminine and smaller. In reality, love and relationships between men do not necessarily need one person to be more masculine than the other. Both can have feminine or masculine traits.In most BL series, you will notice that they adopt  the identities of males and females. As a result, it ends up being about love stories between the spectrum of men and women. So, are we supporting relationships between men, or are we trying to transform the identity of women and men into the relationship between men? In the end, these series are not about supporting the LGBTQ+ community. It is an entertainment for catering to certain groups’ tastes. BL series do not truly support the hearts of LGBTQ+ community, in which were taken in use for marketing. Additionally, producing BL series in this manner can be seen as supporting patriarchy. Regardless of gender dynamics, there always seems to be someone in a position of dominance, typically ones with masculine traits. Even though BL series might seem trivial, they significantly influence the overall structure of society. Instead of making media that encourages people to understand more LGBTQ+, these aspects are often overlooked. However, in terms of writing works such as Omegaverse, where men can conceive, it seems more like imaginative thinking. It is like another fantasy genre. Does it affect the LGBTQ+ community? I do not think so. It is like general alien fiction; the concept of men getting pregnant, to begin with, does not align with reality, and there is nothing to be given for.Question: Do you think BL supports or diminishes the queer community? How?1.  A student from the Faculty of Liberal Arts, Chinese Studies major, Thammasat University:
I may have to speak from personal, first-hand experience. Growing up without acknowledging this community (queer community) when I was little, it was exposed to me as a world-opening way to discover that such things existed, through friendly recommendations. As it was my first world-opening into acknowledging queer community, I never had any idea the community existed all along. I’ve never known about it before. To me, it feels like BL could be a support for the community, allowing people who do know about this before learning about it without having to search elsewhere. They can experience through reading BL novels, and realize that there is queer community out there.2. A student from the Faculty of Communication Arts, Chulalongkorn University: I think it diminishes (the queer community). Taking LGBTQ+ identities without understanding is a form of cultural appropriation. Yaoi films or series, particularly produced in Thailand, have never been a space for the diversity of gender in the realm of love to be discussed.If it can be an effective space, we should see other dimensions, subtlety in storytelling, or messages more than it has offered. Various entertainment enterprises do not make use of their own media recognition to provide candid benefits. Moreover, Thai Yaoi series still cast straight actors while LGBTQ+ actors are turned into comedic characters as expected. In the end, the LGBTQ+ group is still within the societal framework where they are supposed to be funny and eventually marginalized. Also, it shows what characteristics what LGBTQ+ community should hold onto in order to receive love or proper treatment: Bottoms should be small, fair-skinned, femininely appearing but not too girly. If bottoms appear to be too feminine, they immediately become the comedic characters which is the diminishment of this community. It is like creating a novel myth into the society, and that is to be an acceptable individual as part of LGBTQ+ comes with the stereotypical characteristics like those in the series only.3. A writer, an alumni of the Faculty of Liberal Arts, English Language and Literature major, Thammasat University: A quick answer, I think, would be that the negatives outweigh the positives, but it does not mean that there are no positives at all.To me, the benefits are obvious. Without the popularity of Yaoi, Yuri, and other LGBTQ+ novels that have become mainstream nowadays, there would still be the stigma that would make outsiders feel disgusted. Normalizing these works, making them bestsellers for financial gain, has really eliminated this stigmatization.For the negatives, firstly, there are issues with the book covers, which are really quite sexually suggestive. Now, if the younger readers don’t care about these topics, then that might be another matter, and I do see many young readers these days who don’t mind seeing a book with a shirtless man on the cover, but seeing them really confuses me. This could just be a matter of a generational gap, so I might not be able to fully criticize today’s readers. I do admit that these well-promoted works and really suggestive displays on the bestseller shelves are not meant for me, so I cannot speak for their main target audience like the younger generations of readers. So let’s just put an asterisk here that my opinions here could be a result of me not being the targeted audience for these works.Of course, as I said, there are some positive advantages about both the exposure (referring to normalization of LGBTQ+ content) and destigmatization. But at the same time, there are many downsides. I think most readers would agree with me that Yaoi and Yuri are really not the same as queer lit. I think the understanding of Yaoi and Yuri readers differs from those who truly understand queers. Some Yaoi and Yuri readers may even turn out to be sexists themselves.Speaking from my own experience, I started reading and writing novels for the genres after graduating at 23, which some might consider late for the genre. People usually get into these genres really quickly. Some people even learn about their sexual interests from these novels. I do find it a bit strange that some only read Yaoi but not heterosexual novels. When I first got into this circle, I thought very positively of it. Like, wow, we came so far that even heterosexual women who like men still enjoy seeing men love other men.But when I really got into the genre, no. It’s only a fantasy for women. It is simply just the way they think how love should be. Then, they make a guy who fits their ideal type “Seme” and then make the other man “Uke.” So in the end, it’s just another heterosexual relationship. It is just more men and women as how they perceive them, except portrayed as two men. So then, I wonder why they do not wish to see women in the story— why do they not dream of female characters, but imagining two men loving each other in normative heterosexual relationships instead? In the end, I came up with the conclusion that women are misogynistic against themselves. We dislike seeing female characters in Yaoi novels; in most Yaoi novels, men who are portrayed as masculine will be the “Seme” character, while women who are sweet, gentle, reasonable, and all the other virtues associated with women, end up in the “Uke” character. So in the end, there’s nothing revolutionary at all about Yaoi novels.Besides, they (Yaoi novels) don’t even represent gender and sexuality as in LGBTQ+, which are much more diverse, but simply take all the virtues of women in the patriarchal world and project them onto male characters. If the characters were not said to be male, they would have been mistaken as female characters. This is especially obvious when some novels even bring male pregnancy and breastfeeding tropes into play. Women project everything they want into male characters because they are misogynistic; they cannot tolerate images representing themselves within the works. For them, it is just not exciting and unenjoyable to read.When it comes to young girls who are at the age of discovery, exploring their own romantic relationships in different ways, to ponder whether they like girls, male friends, or how much of an age gap is acceptable (for dating). What these kids see doesn’t represent anything that resonates with the reality of their gender at all. Instead, it is a portrayal of men performing the role of women, which is bewildering. It makes me feel that “Sao Y” (“Yaoi Fangirls”) are sexist and misogynistic to the point that they are willing, and even pleased, to twist their own perception of reality. When you read Yaoi novels, they really take things too far sometimes. I dare say heterosexual novels are not nearly as problematic. But Yaoi has all sorts of (problematic) things inserted into them, sometimes by mistake, but also sometimes by design, with the writers realizing it and doing it anyway.For instance, the hatred of women is very common in Yaoi novels. There are basically no positive portrayals of women. Mostly, female characters tend to end up as villains, as jealous ex-girlfriends trying to ruin relationships between the lead characters, or else end up as crazy freaks. If there are good female characters, they are just mother figures whose entire existence is to support the existing same-sex relationships between men, such as arranging marriages between their sons and other men. All of this I find absurd, just because it seems so wildly outlandish, and then everything else just follows this outlandish logic together until they end up with some weird illogical reality. Everything is so strange and illogical altogether, to the point where it feels neither strange nor illogical anymore. You will see plots like this that go so far out of the way to facilitate same-sex relationships between men, so much so that it completely forgets about everything else.If we expect queer literature to challenge, confront, and resolve gender struggles like discrimination, oppression, and self-disclosure, Yaoi novels do exactly none of this. The struggles we face in our real lives are not reflected, resolved, or confronted in Boy's Love novels at all. Instead, they simply become overlooked and forgotten. They don’t show the real problems that we face, like the matter of family, society, or one’s beliefs, and how any of these might clash with one another, these matters don’t reach the Yaoi readers at all, they just read it for personal satisfaction.Now, these criticisms are directed more towards mainstream BL works. There are less popular hidden gems that are really good, too. Still, as said, I was often disappointed. It’s quite rare that you’ll find these hidden gems. So it was getting tiring to keep on searching for them, and that’s why I’ve since stopped. But there really exists good Yaoi works out there that will truly amaze you—the ones that really parody or are truly reflective of queer struggles, in the way that could only be accomplished with Yaoi or Yuri works.

BL novels in Thailand significantly impact society in several aspects, ranging from individual to national levels. We will explore the aspect of capitalism and consumerism, and societal and cultural issues.Capitalism and ConsumerismBoys Love novels affect reading and consumer culture in Thailand, particularly within the specific group of “Sao Y'' characters. The increasing popularity and sales of BL novels influence the fan club community and create a fandom culture for each novel. "Sao Y'' is a Thai term that combines two words. "Sao '' translates to "girls" in Thai and "Y" is from the term "YAOI," which refers to the Boys Love genre. However, it is important to note that interest in BL literature is not limited to any specific age group or gender. Yet, the portrayal and characterization of “Sao Y'' does not imply a steadily growing interest in LGBTQ+ identity in a positive way, like advocating for queer people's rights and inclusion, but this term is much more used as a word to call the people who are obsessed with homosexual love fantasy and cling to the gender stereotype, even though the characters are two men who fall in love. The problematic and controversial representation in BL novels is even highlighted by the marketing system that tries to make the most of Sao Y's consumption habits by serving products related to the BL narrative. As BL novels become more mainstream and reach a wider audience, this has led to a surge in related merchandise and products catering to fans of the genre. For example, there are many publisher booths at the Thai Book Fair 2024 that conclude the session for selling the product from BL literature.On the other hand, excessive consumption encouraged capitalists to abide by the demands of consumers’ opinions too. The subgenre in BL novels is diverse and creative beyond the plain romantic homo love story. Moreover, the contents in many sub-segments of BL novels depict the insight of occupations, corruption of the government system, religious ideology, and societal reflection. So, the awareness of the consumer can shift the focus of BL novels from just a gay fetish to the responsibility to resolve the misunderstanding in the LGBTQ+ community as well.Regarding the publishers and writers, if traced back to about ten years ago, BL novels were still pre-ordered and placed on sale to only a specific group. But around 2015, when BL became popular, many publishing houses had to adapt themselves to the mainstream of market demand. Even in the world of technology, which reduces the stream of reading from paper and publishing houses to online platforms, BL novels are moving in the opposite direction. They started on an online platform and then moved into books in the BL categories. The target audience of BL is mostly those who have purchasing power; even though they have read online, they also prefer to collect in book form as a collectible. Their popularity became such a phenomenon that it has the Y Book Fair, which has been held up to eight times. Moreover, in the Thai National Book Fair 2023, the sales of BL novels are about half of 350 million baht, an overall sales of the fair. So, the popularity of BL novels has been significant in supporting the sales of bookstores and publishing houses and also creating a reputation for writers.However, the mainstream of BL novels also plays a huge part in serving capitalism in terms of consumerism. It is normal that writers want to produce works that attract readers and are popular, so in order to do that, they have to write works that are in line with the mainstream of society. So, nowadays, many writers have shifted to writing BL novels to serve consumer tastes because if writers write works that do not correspond to market demand, it is hard to make them famous. So, it can be seen that the consumerism of BL novels has a huge impact on writers in that they have limited content to produce because they have to serve the satisfaction of the market.Societal and Cultural Issues

BL novels have an impact on society in both positive and negative aspects. They can increase understanding and support the community of gay people. However, they can also reinforce the repetitiveness of the gay stereotype. To enhance understanding and support the gay community, BL novels present an insight into the gay community and encourage the audience to normalize “Love has no gender.” Many BL novels show that “Love” can happen with everyone, not only men and women, they present the differences in ages and careers of gay people in society. For example, there are the BL novels that specifically present gay people in the field of police, doctor, or soldier. Besides, some of BL novels also break the stereotype of gays that has been tied to eroticism. They show that gay people are not always associated with eroticism and sexually transmitted diseases; most of the parts in their novels mainly focus on the love relationships, feelings, and emotions of the characters and they try to diminish the sex scenes or write them more reasonably. So, all of these can make people normalize and understand more about the gay community in real society. However, due to the position of the characters in BL novels which is mostly automatically fixed by writers and readers, top and bottom. This reinforces the repetitiveness of the gay stereotype in terms of creating false impressions of the gay community toward society. They present that gay couples always have the position, like top-bottom in their relationship, and their appearances, behaviors, and passion are fixed to be in each position. For example, the Top position has been tied with masculinity stuff, whereas the Bottom is associated with femininity. This is the way that gay identity is diminished by BL novels.Furthermore, in terms of the destruction of toxic masculinity, disrupting the norms of heterosexuals, and increasing negative views of women at the same time, BL novels have an impact on these issues in society. They break gender norms of men who are tied with masculinity; they present other sides of men by indicating feminine in male characters and normalizing them. BL novels often depict strong emotional bonds between male characters, which can contradict the stereotype of men needing to be emotionless. So, this destruction leads to the disruption of heterosexual norms by challenging the idea that romantic love should only exist between a man and a woman. BL novels normalize same-sex relationships and present them as a valid and fulfilling option. However, at the same time, BL novels can enhance negative views of women. Sometimes, female characters in BL novels fall into stereotypes. They might be portrayed as the nagging ex-girlfriend, the overly emotional friend who is unattainable for the male characters. These portrayals can reinforce negative views of women.Another impact of the Thai BL novel in terms of societal and cultural issues is that the increase of queer media influences legitimate laws. Around ten years ago, sexual diversity was still considered a mental illness. While some people recognized the importance of the LGBTQ+ community in society, others saw them as a social problem that needed to be fixed. However, the rise of BL novels and their adaptation into various forms, such as movies and series, has raised awareness of sexual diversity and increased calls for gender equality which also had a significant impact on various social issues that led to legitimate laws. For example, in recent years, several universities in Thailand have allowed students to wear uniforms according to their gender identity. This rule is stipulated in the university regulations and is considered a ‘cross-dressing right’ that people should not be violated. In terms of the nation, Thai laws still recognize the rights and status of individuals based on a binary sex system, namely ‘male’ and ‘female’ which is reflected in various laws and regulations. However, In September 2023, a civil society group submitted a draft act to the House of Representatives entitled the “Gender Recognition Act'' or GEN-ACT. This act aims to ensure that individuals have the right to legal recognition of their gender identity, the freedom to develop themselves under their gender identity, and the right to have their name, photo, and gender on their identification documents match their gender identity. The act also asks to allow individuals to apply to an official to specify their gender, name, and gender marker in the population registration database to match their gender identity. This process is known as "gender identity registration" (iLaw). In addition, on March 27, 2024, the Thai House of Representatives passed the Marriage Equality Bill, bringing the country closer to becoming the first in Southeast Asia to legalize same-sex marriage. This landmark legal change represents a significant step towards achieving full gender equality in Thai society. If the bill is passed into law, Thailand will be the first country in Southeast Asia and the third in Asia, after Taiwan and Nepal, to legalize same-sex marriage. These legitimate laws show that the impact of the BL novel does not only portray negative aspects, but it also portrays positive points that develop the nation and could raise awareness in society.Furthermore, the positive aspect of the BL novel does not only impact the Thai nation but it leads to being a ‘Soft Power’ to the international community. The increase in popularity of Thai BL series adapted from novels has led to a boom in the production of new BL series. These series have become a significant tool to attract international attention and drive tourism. For example, even though it is not adapted from the novel, the BL series “I Told Sunset About You” filmed in Phuket, became a significant soft power, inspiring tourists to visit Phuket island and boosting the local economy after the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, on March 20, 2024, popular Thai BL actors ‘Mile Phakphum Romsaithong’ and ‘Apo Nattawin Wattanagitiphat’ met with the Thai Prime Minister to discuss and exchange ideas on promoting BL series as a soft power to promote Thailand in various aspects. This move aims to generate economic value for Thailand and introduce Thai culture, food, art, and various tourist attractions to both domestic and international audiences.ConclusionBL novels are shaking up Thailand’s reading industry. Their rise has influenced fan clubs’ culture and even boosted book sales to serve the interests of consumers. The “Sao Y,” or the consumer can drive the market while they prefer the genre’s content to contain gender stereotypical defiance and advocate for LGBTQ+ rights at the same time. Besides, BL is not all superficial. Subgenres explore social issues, and consumer power could push the genre beyond fetishism. Publishers have adapted, catering to a wider audience and even reversing the digital-to-print trend. This economic impact benefits writers and bookstores through the stream of consumerism. However, Writers are also pressured to write BL novels to meet market demands and may limit themselves creatively.In terms of social and cultural issues, BL novels can be a double-edged sword for the LGBTQ+ community. On the positive side, they increase understanding and support by offering a window into gay relationships and challenging stereotypes of masculinity and heteronormativity. They can normalize same-sex love and show its emotional depth. This can lead to real-world progress, as seen in Thailand with the rise of BL media coinciding with legal changes regarding gender equality and same-sex marriage. However, BL novels can also reinforce negative stereotypes. The fixed roles of “top” and “bottom” can create a false impression of gay relationships. Additionally, female characters can be portrayed poorly, furthering negative views of women. It is important to be critical of BL novels and recognize both their potential for positive change and their limitations.Here's where you can find more about BL Impact on society:Capitalism and Consumerism
https://marketeeronline.co/archives/305024
https://www.prachachat.net/d-life/news-538162
https://nisitjournal.press/2017/12/07/series-y-2017/Societal and Cultural Issues
https://www.ilaw.or.th/articles/6227
https://www.sanook.com/news/9304606/
https://www.pptvhd36.com/news/%E0%B8%82%E0%B9%88%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%A7%E0%B8%9A%E0%B8%B1%E0%B8%99%E0%B9%80%E0%B8%97%E0%B8%B4%E0%B8%87/219854
http://www.hurujournal.ru.ac.th/journals/30_1656651500.pdfPicture References:
https://x.com/sense_book/status/1776160263118663981?s=46&t=bLKTGq3SyeJY60staSIfTg
https://x.com/helotte_phtp/status/1775567450928750820?s=46&t=bLKTGq3SyeJY60staSIfTg
https://x.com/sitaswan_/status/1173881568542089216?s=53
https://www.prachachat.net/general/news-948950

IntroductionAs we were doing the research about the statistics of Thai Boy Love Fiction, we could see that Boy Love Fiction is gaining more popularity and recognition in Thailand throughout the time. Boy Love Fiction becomes a hot trend in Thailand as we notice that it is one of the most read genres on famous Thai’s online reading platforms such as readAwrite and Dek-D. Aside from online platforms, we also discovered that Boy Love Fiction is the most borrowed fiction in our university’s library, Puey Ungphakorn Library. In 51st Thai Book Fair 2023, Boy Love Fiction shares 44% of the whole market share of the Book Fair. These statistics reflect the popularity of Boy Love Fiction that has been increasing in Thailand.Reader Age GroupChattida Choothong’s thesis “Exposure, attitude, and tendency towards reading behavior of Y novels among Thai Y female readers” presents the statistics of female readers of Boy Love Fiction age group and the media platform that the readers use to read Boy Love Fiction. The Female Readers Age Group shows that the majority of readers are younger than 18 years old and the most used platforms are websites and applications.
(Thesis: https://ethesisarchive.library.tu.ac.th/thesis/2019/TU201961070301881221212975.pdf)

For further statistic information, click the link below. It will redirect you to data tables.https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1DRVI2L7IzjBuY2mEDjU6n6wmh9i_MNyd?usp=sharing