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Cute dog pic and powerful caption about the treachery of victim blaming goes viral – Metro US

Cute dog pic and powerful caption about the treachery of victim blaming goes viral

victim blaming

One woman posted the aptest analogy about victim blaming and it has gone viral.

Victims of rape or other sexual abuse are often asked, “Well, what were you wearing?” or “Were you drunk?” Questions that say to the person coping with sexual assault, “You must’ve done something to deserve this.”

Obviously, no one deserves or provokes rape and on July 19, 22-year-old Bree Wiseman posted a photo of her pup on Facebook. It would seem the two have nothing to do with each other, but under the pic of Wiseman’s adorable dog posing near a plate of food, there was a message.

“To the people that say women get raped due to the way they are dressed,” Wiseman wrote in the caption. “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 comparison is simple and powerful. If a dog understands “no means no,” humans should be able to grasp that concept.

Huffington Post spoke to Wiseman, a pastry chef and restaurant manager from Tennessee, who said the post stemmed from her own experience with sexual assault.

She added that the actions rapists and abusers are often excused away when people victim-shame.

Wiseman, a pastry chef and restaurant manager from Tennessee, told HuffPost that she wrote the post because of her own experience with sexual assault. All too often, she said, perpetrators’ actions are excused because people blame the victim.

“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?”

“The only person to blame in a rape offense is the rapist,” she added. “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.” 

h/t Huffington Post