Australia’s ABC news had special guest Deanne Carson on the network to discuss Saxon Mullins. Mullins, a young woman from Australia, was raped in an alleyway in May 2013. Mullins, a virgin at the time, met Luke Lazarus on the dancefloor.
The two instantly hit it off, with Lazarus claiming he was going to bring Mullins to a VIP area. Mullins told Lazarus that she was a virgin, which he took as her consenting to sex. Mullins claims that she exhibited the “freeze response” when Lazarus began raping her.
She endured a five-year legal battle, two trials and an additional two appeals. The case has sparked a debate over consent with Carson, who teaches children about consent, creating her own debate.
Carson claims that parents should be asking their children if it’s okay to change their cloth nappy. “Of course, a baby’s not going to respond ‘yes mum, that’s awesome I’d love to have my nappy changed,'” she exclaims.
Carson suggests asking children if it’s okay to change their nappies as a way to create a culture of consent in the household. She claims that parents should take eye contact and body language into consideration when asking to let the child know that their response matters.
The goal is to teach the child from a very young age that consent really matters.
Carson’s claims have left many parents baffled by their behavior. Typically, parents will change a baby’s nappy with no questions asked. Carson works with parents to raise awareness of consent and also works with children as young as 3 years old to teach them about consent.
Twitter users were quick to respond to her comments, with one tweeting: “Absolute lunacy. The world has gone completely mad.”
Mullins’ case has sparked a nationwide debate on consent.
“On a social level, I think we need to teach people about making sure that the person you are with wants to be with you,” claims Mullins.
She claims that an enthusiastic consent is easy to recognize and that if a “yes” is not enthusiastic, it’s not good enough for consent.
Australians are calling for stronger consent laws after a second repeal led to Lazarus being freed from prison after just eleven months. Experts recommend that schools start teaching students that “yes” is the only response that means “yes.”
Carson is just one of the consent experts that have weighed their opinion on how to create a consent culture from a very young age.
