I’ve been thinking a lot about consent in Thai GLs lately and wanted to call out some good and not so great examples of it. Please feel free to add onto the lists! I know that even within the same series there can be both good and bad examples.
(Disclaimer: I love almost all of these series in their own ways, I’m just looking at the idea of consent in them)
Good
Us the Series: Pam sliding in smoothly with “Are you sure?” after Pam tells Rak how she feels and Rak kisses her.
Reverse With Me: Karan’s sexy smooth “Do you want to stop?” This was one of the finest examples of consent I’ve seen in really any tv series.
Apple My Love: Their little discussion before their first time warmed my heart.
My Marvellous Dream is You: When they finally do get together, it’s beautiful.
Unlock Your Love: Pat and Deane’s scene in the tattoo shop toward the end of the series was chef’s kiss.
The Loyal Pin: There are multiple good examples of consent throughout the series including conversations before and mid intimacy to make sure the other person is okay.
Pluto: When these two do get together, the scenes are good examples of checking in, going slow, making sure everyone is comfortable. When Ai-oon was concerned that May was being deceived and loved Oom, not her, she didn’t proceed and stopped.
Petrichor: Solid intimacy scenes. Made sure they were on the same page.
23.5: Just adorable before and after their first kiss.
Music Story Losing Control: An excellent example of consent, Queen looks for a physical nod from Bam before continuing and then asks again with a verbal consent after that before continuing.
Meh
Gap: “Don’t say anything else” when Mon questioned if it was a good idea to continue. Though, when Mon asked Sam to stop right before that, Sam stopped immediately, so that is a complicated situation.
Mate: Very complicated feelings about some of the intimacy scenes in this series, especially with Aoey’s history.
Denied Love: The consent is complicated as Rin consistently says no and seems uninterested in Khem, but Khem is relentless and repeatedly ignores Rin. Rin gives in, but you can tell she’s battling herself. They do have a conversation about consent though, and Khem asks for consent in EP 3 and doesn’t proceed until Rin says yes.
Bad
Blank: Multiple times alcohol or vulnerable situations were involved. There’s even a dubious “Ar-Nueng” called out in a “stop” sort of way when Anueng was drunk (though that might have just been a poorly delivered line). Anueng repeatedly ignores Nueng’s objections.
Affair: Wan repeatedly ignores Pleng when she asked to stop.
Us the Series: Pam kisses Rak for the first time when Rak is very, very drunk and Pam is completely sober.
The Secret of Us: Our bestie Fahlada is heckin drunk in the first love scene and likely would not have consented if sober, though Earn does stop her initially.
Reverse 4 You: Four is incredibly drunk in the love scene. She was the instigator (like Lada in TSOU), and likely would have instigated if sober too, but it was Wa’s first time and Four seems unconcerned.
