Woman Uses Photo Of Her Dog To Show How Rape Is Not The Woman’s Fault

Dog pics go viral all the time – people simply love all things canine. This one, however, was as poignant as it was adorable. Tennessee pastry chef Bree Wiseman uploaded a pic of her dog sitting obediently next to his favorite food and used it to make a powerful statement about victim-blaming, something that is sadly still rife in modern society.

“To the people that say women get raped due to the way they are dressed,” she wrote, “This is my dog.”

“His favorite food is steak. He is eye level with my plate. He won’t get any closer because I told him no. If a dog is better behaved than you are, you need to reevaluate your life. Feel free to share, my dog is adorable.”

The post has been around for a while now, 2 years in fact, and has been shared an astonishing 325K times. Wiseman told the Huffington Post that she hopes posts like hers can help raise awareness of the insidious nature of victim-blaming. “The only person to blame in a rape offense is the rapist,” she said. “It was their decision to rape. People shouldn’t have to worry about what they chose to wear for fear of rape. I want people to see that this is a problem, and to stand together against victim-shaming.”

“If a 4-year-old pit bull understands the word ‘no,’ even though he is looking at something he wants so bad he is literally drooling, then adults should understand ‘no,’ no matter how the other adult is dressed. Appearances shouldn’t make any difference in sexual assault cases,” she said, adding, ”How is it that a simple-minded animal has the ability to understand better than a large part of the adult population?”

A good question indeed.

Speaking to Bored Panda, Bree explained that she never expected her post to blow up the way it did – the fact that it is relatable to so many people is incredibly sad. “Almost everyone I know has been through trauma or at least uncomfortable situations just because someone didn’t respect the word no,” she told us. “I posted that because I believe in what I said. Once the hundreds of comments flooded in misconstruing what I wrote, I turned off the comments. People can take the post however they wish.”

The clever boi is called Louis, and he is now six years old. “I’ve had him since he was very small, Bree said. “I didn’t really train him. I just talked to him like he was a person and eventually he caught on! He’s always been well behaved.”