Til It Happens To You features Twilight star Nikki Reed as a sexual assault victim
Lady Gaga has released a powerful music video to highlight the woefully under-reported sexual assault crisis that’s happening in universities.
The 29-year-old songstress worked alongside the US documentary ‘The Hunting Ground’ to produce the emotive video, which stars ‘Twilight’ star Nikki Reed as one of four rape victims featured.
The black and white video begins with the shocking statistic that one in five women are raped every year on US college campuses before telling the story of four young women who are all sexually assaulted.
These stats are brought to life in the graphic depiction of rape throughout the video, which will no doubt be upsetting for many viewers but is a stark reminder of what happens to thousands of young women every year.
The issue of college campus rape is an ongoing struggle in the US as it is claimed that over 90 per cent of victims do not report the assault, thanks to an atmosphere of slut-shaming and self-loathing as typified in the video with messages like “I am worthless” and “Sometimes I hate myself”.
Gaga co-wrote the song with Dianne Warren who penned Aerosmith’s ‘I Don’t Wanna Miss A Thing’, while Twilight’s Catherine Hardwicke directed the video.
The award-winning singer and pop idol released the track to the world on Friday with the tweet: ‘.@diane_warren & I made “Til It Happens To You” for people all over the world who suffer from painful life experiences.’
‘We hope u feel our love & solidarity through the song & perhaps find some peace in knowing u r not alone’
According to a study earlier this year published in the scientific journal Violence and Gender, over 30 per cent of male college students said they would rape a woman if there were no consequences.
Even more worryingly, over a third of male students surveyed said that they did not see that forcing a women to have sex with them in a “consequence-free situation” even was rape.
If you are affected by any of the issues in this video, you can visit the Rape Crisis Centre website or call on 0808 802 9999.
