Did a woman named Shanice Brown "blow up her vagina" using a fire extinguisher? And did this happen in Green Bay, Spartanburg, Columbus, Pratville, Blue Springs, Elgin, Lorrain County, Norman, Montgommery Beach, Daytona Beach, Greensboro or some other place? No, that's not true: a site that bills itself as "satire" has published the same story but set in different locations and several copies have gone viral.
One copy of the story originated from an article published by Satire Weekly on September 29, 2019 titled "Green Bay, WI: Woman In Critical Condition After She 'Blew Up Her Vagina' Using A Fire Extinguisher" (archived here) which opened:
A 25-year old woman in Green Bay, Wisconsin has been seriously injured after a reckless plan to spray a fire extinguisher into her vagina left her with massive internal bleeding.
Shanice Brown, a college student, was attending a party with classmates and reportedly 'incredibly drunk' at the time she decided to grab a fire extinguisher and spray it inside her vagina. Her friends admit they were also intoxicated and thought it was a good idea - at the time.
"When she said she'd do it we just started laughing," said one male classmate who asked not to be named. "We had no idea that it would hurt her so badly."
Users on social media only saw this title, description and thumbnail:
Green Bay, WI: Woman In Critical Condition After She 'Blew Up Her Vagina' Using A Fire Extinguisher
A 25-year old woman in Green Bay, Wisconsin has been seriously injured after a reckless plan to spray a fire extinguisher into her vagina left her with massive internal bleeding. Shanice Brown, a college student, was attending a party with classmates and reportedly 'incredibly drunk' at the time she decided to grab a fire extinguisher ...
The ambulance picture illustrating the story seems to have been taken from an article about a shooting in Chicago:
Sister runs for help after girl, 14, hit by bullets fired through door: 'They shot Raven, they shot Raven'
The door had barely closed behind the 14-year-old girl, her mother and her aunt when two bullets tore through, hitting the girl in her ribs and abdomen. The girl's sister ran for help, reaching their uncle in a nearby apartment building in the South Commons neighborhood on the Near South Side around 9:45 p.m.
But just the domain name of the site should have given people pause to think: "Satire Weekly"? That doesn't sound like a real news source. There is also a very tiny disclaimer at the bottom of the page that reads "Disclaimer: this is satire."
As you can read in our own Satire Policy there are several definitions of satire but most of them include the need for some kind of criticism of vice or folly of a person or institution. We don't see that happening here, this is just a made up "offbeat news" story. But since the domain name includes the word "satire" we're giving it a pass here.
Don't fall for fictional stories!
