“Till it happens to you, you don’t know how it feels,” sings Lady Gaga in her new ballad about on-campus rape and sexual assault.
The public service music video of the ballad accompanies “The Hunting Ground,” a documentary about the institutionalized injustices involving rape and sexual assault at American universities.
At first, the Editorial Board was skeptical of the singer. However, it appears Gaga, a rape survivor, is genuinely using her fame for good.
A portion of the proceeds from the song will be donated to organizations working with sexual assault survivors.
Now that is a movement we can all get behind.
But Mother Monster is not the first celebrity to fuel a social campaign.
Celebrities draw a massive fan base to causes, through which they raise awareness and, hopefully, instigate change.
President Obama’s sexual consent awareness campaign, “It’s On Us,” is backed by numerous stars.
New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof and fellow journalist and spouse Sheryl WuDunn feature several actresses, such as Eva Mendes and Olivia Wilde, in their “Half the Sky” film supporting girls’ education.
As a rape survivor at 19, Lady Gaga is an appropriate representative of this movement.
She has been one of the most outspoken celebrities of her time, especially when it comes to social justice and LGBTQ rights.
The music video depicts several scenes of rape, as well as the trauma and isolation that follow for survivors.
While stressful to watch, it accurately represents the unfortunate realities of sexual assault on campus.
One young woman in the video is attacked in her dorm.
At IU, there have been four reported rapes this semester, three of which were in residence halls, according to the IU Police Department’s crime log.
A rape in an off-campus apartment during a fraternity recruiting event was reported last Friday.
Last week, a former IU student was charged with two counts of rape in two separate instances, one of which occurred at his fraternity, Delta Tau Delta.
One in four female undergraduates in the U.S. reported they have been sexually assaulted, according to findings released by the Association of American Universities on Monday.
The survey, one of the largest of its kind, also found almost three-fourths of survivors did not report the attack to law enforcement, even in the most serious assaults involving penetration.
These numbers are alarming and frankly unacceptable.
IU’s prevention service, Stop Sexual Violence, offers resources for prevention and incident reporting.
The Health Center also offers Counseling and Psychological Services and a Sexual Assault Crisis Service.
However, “Till It Happens to You” is changing the conversation from prevention to support.
We can’t talk about sexual assault on campus if we ignore its detrimental aftermath. We cannot forget about the survivors.
“The Hunting Ground” will be screened at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 29, in Fine Arts 015. The event is free, but space is limited.
The Editorial Board encourages all IU students and staff to attend the screening and to seek further information regarding rape and sexual assault on college campuses.
