It’s hard to claim that “Boys’ Love” (BL) or Yaoi, a genre of fictionalized media that features homoerotic relationships between male characters, has reached mainstream Filipino pop culture consciousness. But it also feels inaccurate to say that it hasn’t been noticed.

BL shows, specifically those from Thailand, have reached our shores, thanks to online streaming sites. Netflix has a number of them in its Philippine catalog. Thai TV networks like GMM TV also upload most of their shows on YouTube with English subtitles immediately after they air. This practice has allowed the network to amass a sizable international following, including a Filipino audience.

I don’t have hard data to prove that a lot of Filipinos are indeed watching these shows aside from anecdotal evidence. For instance: this year alone, Thai actor Mew Suppasit of the popular 2019 series “TharnType” has been in the country for fan meets and official functions. He was supposed to return last March with the other cast members of “TharnType” for a fan meeting, which was cancelled because of imposed travel bans due to COVID-19. I started watching BL shows because of endless recommendations of friends and countless social media posts of people fawning over these Thai gay stories and their cute male stars.