Gaga gets serious with PSA about campus sexual violence

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The producers of The Hunting Ground, a new documentary that brings attention to the reality of sexual assault on campuses, took part in the creation of Gaga's PSA.

Lady Gaga is most known for her incredible vocals and shocking outfits, but the singer recently made headlines for the music video for her new song, “’Til it Happens to You”.

The video is difficult to watch as it portrays three incidents of sexual assaults that are unfortunately common occurrences on college and university campuses.

The song and video were created in partnership with the producers behind a new documentary called The Hunting Ground. The documentary focuses on how post-secondary administrators across the U.S. covered up sexual assaults that occurred on campuses in order to make the school appear safer or to protect the perpetrators.

Fanshawe will be airing The Hunting Ground in D1060 on Oct. 7. The event will start at 6:45 p.m. with a brief introduction to the film and will run until 9:00 p.m. There will be a Q&A to discuss the new sexual violence policy at Fanshawe so all guests can learn about how their campus can help them if they need it. The event is free and is open to all students and staff.

Leah Marshall, the sexual violence prevention advisor at Fanshawe, said she is excited to be airing the documentary on campus and that she supports Lady Gaga’s involvement in bringing awareness to the issue of sexual violence on campuses.

“I think it’s another way that we can see that there’s a lot of momentum growing to have these conversations and to really break the stigma related to sexual violence,” Marshall said.

Marshall warns that the documentary is as tough to watch as the music video is, but she hopes to sufficiently prepare viewers by including trigger warnings in the introduction to the film. She said the documentary, as well as Gaga’s video, creates a dialogue about sexual violence that otherwise might not have been there had it not been for Gaga’s celebrity endorsement.

“Our hope on campus is that we make it more of a conversation that everybody’s involved in because everybody has a role to play,” said Marshall.

Lady Gaga talked about her own experience with sexual assault when she was a teenager in an interview with Howard Stern. When she was 19-years-old, she was sexually assaulted by a man she said was 20 years older than her.

“It took me a long time to feel strong about it,” said Gaga in the Stern interview. “I didn’t tell anybody. I didn’t even tell myself.”

Gaga’s attitude is frighteningly common. According to a Government of Ontario fact sheet on sexual violence, 90 per cent of sexual assaults are not reported to the police. It is estimated that only 0.3 per cent of perpetrators of sexual assaults are prosecuted for their actions. Survivors of a sexual assault choose not to report because “they fear they will not be believed, feel ashamed, blame themselves or fear public scrutiny,” the report said.

Reporting a sexual assault can be a traumatizing experience made even more difficult when the authorities you are reporting to cover it up. The Hunting Ground and “’Til it Happens to You” are bringing awareness to an extremely important issue for students and are changing the way we talk about sexual violence on campuses.

A portion of the retail sales of the single will be donated to organizations supporting victims of sexual assault.