The recent rise of the Girls' Love (GL) media industry in Thailand, featuring female same-sex romance, has attracted a global following, particularly among queer women from Asia to Latin America, says new research.
The emerging GL media industry in South East Asia, which builds on the successful Boys' Love (BL) model, is forging its own path in production and its engagement with the queer women community globally.
But, say researchers Dr Eva Cheuk-Yin Li, a Lecturer in Media and Cultural Studies at Lancaster University, and Dr Ka-Wei Pang, a Lecturer in Cultural Studies at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, the lack of commercial interest reflects not only sexual but also gender inequalities.
Published in the Feminist Media Studies journal (Taylor and Francis Group), the article 'Queer Media from the Global South: The Emerging Girls Love (GL) Media Industry of Southeast Asia', examines the recent rise of GL media and its international following.
While Boys Love (BL) media has gained mainstream attention since the mid-2010s, GL has received less attention.
Despite Thailand's relatively long history of producing BL television series for the global audience, its first GL series, GAP ('Pink Theory' in Thai) premiered only in 2022.
The success of GAP has sparked an increase in GL productions and the formation of a transnational fandom largely consisting of queer women.
By analysing eight TV series aired from 2022 to August 2024 and media interviews of GL creators, the researchers argue that GL could forge a new path of queer representations of female same-sex romance, despite its commercial nature and heavy reference to BL's production and marketing strategies
In 2023, two GL series aired. By August 2024, eight full-length series and two mini-series had aired and finished, with several more currently ongoing.
Analysing the GL series broadcast by August 2024 and media interviews of creators, the researchers explored how the GL media industry charts a new path in queer media, despite its commercial underpinning and references to the production and marketing practices of BL.
GAP, first broadcast in 2022, quickly amassed a global fandom, evident from the millions of followers and popular fan events such as fan meetings.
Although GL did not originate in Thailand, its GL industry blends influence from Japanese yuri manga, Sinophone baihe subculture, K-pop shipping culture, and Anglophone femslash and WLW (women-loving-women) content.
Despite more than 200 BL series produced in Thailand by mid-2024, it took until recently for the first GL series to emerge which, argue the researchers, shows the lack of commercial interest reflects sexual and gender inequalities.
While BL targets heterosexual female audiences, GL mainly attracts queer women audiences. The article adds that the close relationship between producers and the queer women community has the potential to advance LGBTQ activism and empower queer women and nonbinary individuals.
The success of Thailand's GL productions has inspired Southeast Asian countries like Vietnam, the Philippines, and Cambodia to produce their own GL series.
"We also see increased visibility of GL productions in South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan, which have previously produced queer media content," says the article. "Although Thailand's GL industry is still developing, it is premature to label it as inherently queerbaiting or exploitative."
In early 2024, Thailand's Ministry of Commerce signed an agreement with GL and BL production houses to promote Thai products and services globally, and that includes the period GL drama, The Loyal Pin, which has aired the uncut version of its final episode on YouTube, attracting over 4.7 million views within a week.
The move, adds the article, underscores the Thai government's recognition of GL's growing significance, alongside BL.
The authors call for further research to see how such collaborations between the GL industry and Thailand's government for national soft power, with Thailand's recent marriage equality advancements, impact the commercialisation of queer media and its engagement with local and global queer communities.
Such investigations, say the authors, will reveal how queer media, within a global and transnational context, might empower queer women, particularly in the Global South, despite its commercial underpinnings.
