Did feminist refuse to change baby’s diaper because of no consent? Fact Check

An article is spreading across social media that claims a feminist had failed to change her daughter’s diaper for weeks because the baby did not give consent.

The story first surfaced on website Huzlers.com and tells the story of Emily Gwen, a feminist from San Diego who had not given her baby daughter a diaper change because of a lack of consent, resulting in severe diaper rash and infections, according to the article.

An excerpt from the article can be read below –

FEMINIST DIDN’T CHANGE DAUGHTER’S DIAPERS FOR WEEKS BECAUSE SHE DIDN’T GIVE “CONSENT”
Feminist Didn’t Change Daughter’s Diapers In Weeks Because She Claims Daughter Did Not Give Consent
SAN DIEGO – A feminist mother has been arrested for child neglect after she reportedly went weeks without changing her 1 year old daughter’s diapers because, according to her, her daughter did not give “consent”.
Emily Gwen, 28, known by her friends as an extreme feminist, did not change her daughter’s diapers for weeks, resulting in severe diaper rash and infections. “How was a 1 year old baby supposed to give consent for their diaper to be changed? Where’s Thanos with the infinity gauntlet when you need him?” said Officer John Keller, who found the whole situation disturbing.

However the entire article is fake. If the subject matter rings a bell, then that is likely because this piece of spoof news is likely to have been directly inspired by the real life comments of “sexuality expert” Deanne Carson made during May 2018 on ABC News when Carson had advocated for asking for consent before changing a baby’s diaper, comments that drew plenty of criticism and mockery online.

To clarify, despite what many media outlets had reported, Carson hadn’t directly advocated waiting for consent to be given by the baby, rather asking for consent from the baby using eye contact and body language. Carson conceded that a baby couldn’t have given explicit consent and didn’t ask viewers to wait for consent to be given (which, of course, would be ridiculous.)

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Regardless of whether the viewer agreed or disagreed with Carson’s advice, the story in this case about Emily Gwen is pure hogwash. Emily doesn’t exist, and there is no “consent-refusing” baby with a weeks-old-diaper and a bad case of diaper rash. This story is merely meant to be satirical. The woman photographed in the article appears to be a random mugshot photo from 2017.

Huzlers.com isn’t a genuine media outlet. It’s a known spoof site. There is a disclaimer on the website that outs the website as publishing fictional news. It reads in part –

Huzlers.com is the most infamous fauxtire & satire entertainment website in the world. If it’s trending on social media you’ll find it here!

It’s a fake story, and we don’t recommend circulating it.