OF Stray Thoughts
Purely out of curiosity, is there anyone else watching OF who doesn't take issue with the fact that the show depicts slut-shaming as an almost hourly event?
Now hear me out, I'm not saying that I like the slut-shaming in and of itself, my point here is that I don't have a problem with them depicting it because my understanding of Thai culture (as a non-Thai Westerner *that speaks Thai) is that it is fairly commonplace.
Disclaimer: From what I understand/havewitnessed of Thai culture, and I've lived in Thailand, though not excessively puritanical it is very traditional/modest and the idea of any person sleeping around (let alone a young, gay man) isn't one that's easily or readily accepted.
From the beginning I've simply interpreted Chuem and Mew's regular slut-shaming of Boston as a realistic depiction of and commentary on the impact of Thailand's culture and traditional values on young people and how they view sex/relationships. Whereas Boston and Nick's situationship-become-relationship, and their semi-regular discussions/statements on the topic of monogony vs polyamory, as being the counter-balance to all the slut-shaming.
Both sides of the coin are shown, both perspectives have more than one character that represents the respective view points and, most importantly; the audience is left with room to interpret both perspectives. It's always felt to me like more of a commentary on the subject rather than a straight up (pun-intended) condemnation of loose sexual behaviour.
Side Note:
I like Mew, and I'm rooting for TopMew to have at least some semblance of a positive ending, but I don't condone his attitude towards Boston (or Ray for that matter). I also like Cheum well enough but dislike her attitude for the same reason and then some because, of the whole group, she comes accross (to me) as the most judgemental character. Though I do ackowledge that her character was written by a man so that may have an impact on how I subconciously react to her presence in some most scenes.
I also dislike Boston for multiple reasons (his treatment of Nick to a certain extent and his manipuation of Top/Ray etc.) but I love him as a character because of his representation of how love and sex can be enjoyed both seperately and together and how they are neither mutually exclusive nor intrinsically linked.
Anyway, just some thoughts that've been swirling around inside my mind amongst all the SandRay fanfics that threaten to write themselves.
Here, have some cuteness to counterbalance the above brainrot: