Sarah posting on the Spashley forums, 2007
Our new Business and Design Director, Sarah Sarwar, passionately explored her lesbianism in the ’00s via passionate commitments to various fandoms. Specifically, Sarah really got real on the South of Nowhere Spashley fan forums. Like… REALLY REAL, Y’ALL. This week we’re all together in one geographical location working on this website and Sarah made the mistake of letting us see her storied world wide web history on The Spencer & Ashley Forums.
BTW her username was “mouthfull.”
Below, please enjoy some of the many forum topics that Sarah Sarwar herself began, including her creative sub-titles. Also now that I’ve used her full name three times in this post, she’ll never be able to work anywhere else besides here. As Sarah 2007 would say, “Bwahaha.”
1. Ashley’s FUGLY Ex
2. Who’s Afraid Of The Amazing Prices Lady?
Seriously, she scares me.
3. Are you shaved?
Purely moralistic discussion. Bwahaha
4. Kissing Boys.
I kissed a boy last night, bitches.
5. Sexy Punishments
Calling all creative lovers!
6. Degrassi Lesbian Porn!
Manny and Darcy could possibly get it on
7. Back Door Woman…
She’s got a boyfriend, and wants me too.
8. MARYKATE&ASHLEY VIDEOS
You know you watched them.
9. Okay, let’s just be perverts…
Don’t click if you can’t handle honesty!
10. PRETEND YOU’RE FROM THE N!
U kan b awzeom in dis thread 4 shizzle
11. Is Nina a closeted Homo?
& how long will this thread survive?
12. Annoying Heterosexual Ex-Girlfriends
God. We even took SHOWERS together!!!
13. Check out my sexy journal layout
14. Tom Lynch… Maybe a little pervey?
Ever crossed your mind?
15. Outside My Window
Connections through the WINDOWPANE
16. HAHAHA. Oh Gabrielle.
17. MAKING A BANNER FOR THE FANBASE
I STILL WANT YOUR PICTURES
wow wow wow i am OBSESSED. also, definitely thought backdoor woman would be about anal, not a girl with a boyfriend who also wants girls. this was NOT my life circa 06-07, but what a treat it would’ve been if it was!
I wish it WAS your life, Alaina!
It use to mean using the backdoor of a house to enter an exit so neighbors don’t see a married woman cheating on her spouse. Popular term in blues and southern music/influenced music.
haha, oops, I have definitely been listening to some songs wrong, then.
yeah i was 7 in 2007 so my life was ballet class
This is how I realise that I clearly spent 2007 on the wrong parts of the internet.
My 2007 internet days were spent almost exclusively reading MuggleNet fan fiction. I’d say it’s pretty equivalent in terms of embarrassment levels…
NO LIE: I did a full-fledged research project (funded by a competitive grant from my tiny liberal arts school, thank you very much) on the Spashley fandom the summer before I graduated and am almost certain I quoted material from at least one of these threads in the paper that resulted. God bless.
WHUT. This sounds like a phenomenal read. God bless YOU Carrie.
Also Carrie we want to read this NOW
I will email it to somebody! There’s a PowerPoint and everything.
… I may live to regret this.
Sarah [at] Autostraddle
GO!
Y’all wtf is Spashley
In 2007 I was a sophomore in high school and I didn’t have a Facebook yet / was still annoyed that my parents made me get a cell phone / was very busy honing in on exactly why I hate myself & developing long term terrible coping mechanisms to b involved in “fandom”
it’s the ship name for Spencer and Ashley the lez/bi girls from the tv show south of nowhere.
Um, ok
…. What is South of Nowhere
You have SO MUCH TV in front of you
I think it was one of the first shows to depict a lesbian relationship between two girls in high school. It was honestly the worst but there was a glimmer of hope when it premiered. Like I remember just rewinding the promo 60 times to actually believe it was happening on my television.
Basically Spencer is like the wholesome girl that moves to LA from Ohio and Ashley is the foxy bisexual girl who captures her heart and makes her in tune with her impending lesbianism. Also their chemistry is just like two teddy bears going at it, so adorbs. I would suggest like skipping every other scene that doesn’t involve Spashley.
Same. I don’t think I’ve ever read a post and understood so little. (;￢＿￢)
“Also now that I’ve used her full name three times in this post, she’ll never be able to work anywhere else besides here.” Here’s hoping, what a gem!
New people in media I like are usually filed under “Slightly Suspicious But Probably Okay” in my brain, but Sarah has officially splash landed right into “AMAZING!!!!!! *heart eyes emoji* *sparkle emoji* *jumping horse emoji*”
ME TOO
Ahhhhhh THANK YOU JANE THIS MEANS SO MUCH
Also not featured: “What color are your nipples?” Because the moderator had to delete it due to a woman who posted a picture of her boobs in it every day.
That is the worst-ever reason for deleting a thread.
Extremely disappointed that this is just a bare list and not actual links to the forum topics in question. I want to know more about the Back Door Woman!
Now I feel all nostalgic for the Radiohead message board I used to frequent in the 00s, where my username was “moonstorm”, I made up adventure stories about a furry blue two-headed dragon, and I had my very first coming out when I announced to my forum-mates that I had a crush on my female gym instructor.
I was the back door woman and my friend was the one with the boyfriend. All I can say is we eventually hooked up but only after they broke up. Thank god for forum friends, they steered me in the right direction!
GOTTA get on the asking personal questions & following it with ‘purely for moralistic reasons’ train
I LOVE SARAH SARWAR
I LOVE YOU SO MUCH ERIN
GOTTA get on the asking personal questions & following it with ‘purely for moralistic reasons’ train https://www.surveyzop.com/