Till It Happens To You

September 20, 2015 2:47 PM

Lady Gaga has just released a new video (Major trigger warnings for graphic depictions of assaults) called The Hunting Ground as a PSA for It's On Us (they also have a tumblr), an organization dedicated to ending campus rape. Take the pledge.

If you are a survivor of sexual assault and want help, The National Sexual Assault Hotline is available in the USA at 1-800-656-HOPE. RAINN offers a 24/7 online support service.

RAINN's list of international resources for survivors.

posted by feckless fecal fear mongering (12 comments total)

One in five, goddamn.

Powerful stuff fffm, thanks.
posted by turbid dahlia at 3:26 PM on September 20, 2015

I keep wanting to watch this, but I'm just so not in a good place right now.
posted by Deoridhe at 3:32 PM on September 20, 2015

I have a lot of respect for this wonan. Good on her.
posted by adamvasco at 3:53 PM on September 20, 2015 [1 favorite]

Wow. I didn't expect it, but I was moved to tears. Not by the part where the women were assaulted, but by the part where their friends show up to listen to them. Assault we see constantly in one form or the other - in real life, or depicted on screen. Nonjudgmental listening and compassion? So rare.
posted by Solon and Thanks at 5:46 PM on September 20, 2015 [12 favorites]

I didn't expect it, but I was moved to tears. Not by the part where the women were assaulted, but by the part where their friends show up to listen to them.

I had the exact same reaction. That was incredibly moving for me, much more than I was expecting.
posted by Dip Flash at 7:13 PM on September 20, 2015 [1 favorite]

Thank you for posting this. I would have done it myself but I was too wretched about it...
posted by thegirlwiththehat at 8:05 PM on September 20, 2015

Solon and Thanks, Dip Flash, I had that same reaction.

And the dynamic between those two roommates, including the one who (it's implied) drops out of college, pierced me.

I was also grateful for the moment towards the end of the video where a man is being accompanied out of a dorm room, implying that he is also a victim of sexual assault.
posted by brainwane at 5:45 AM on September 21, 2015 [2 favorites]

Diane Warren co-wrote this song with Lady Gaga. She deserves recognition, too.
posted by Carol Anne at 7:35 AM on September 21, 2015 [1 favorite]

the dynamic between those two roommates, including the one who (it's implied) drops out of college, pierced me.

Happens more than we'd like to think. I nearly dropped out afterwards. It was just too much to bear. My grades dropped precipitously. I had to take a couple of finals twice; thankfully the profs in both classes honored my request and the explanation for my terrible performance (I was a student with a 14-year history of straight As getting Cs and Ds...) without any second guessing.

With one exception from a TA who addressed it openly, in front of our entire class (I had told her privately), when she mentioned that she had added a fucking essay question on an ad depicting rape to our class final. It was a social studies course, she explained it to the class as being because I needed to face what had happened to me. I got pissed and asked her what gave her the right to A. mention it in front of everyone and B. assume she knew what I needed to "face". Do assault victims need to "face" essay questions on depictions of assault in undergrad university courses? Pretty sure not. She got a shit-eating grin and said, and I quote, "because I'm your teacher, and what I say, goes." I asked her to remove it since she wasn't a therapist (yeah, pretty aware 20-year-old I was), and she laughed. I reported it to her supervisor, got no support from him because TA explained to him that it was "to raise awareness". I'm pretty sure the delighted sneer on her face when I wept on seeing it on finals day wasn't because she had "raised class awareness."

With a few years' perspective, I really should have reported her ass to more people than just her supervisor, but am far beyond holding myself guilty of anything. Your body takes on a life of its own after an experience like that; your brain is merely a passenger in a vessel that is no longer quite yours for some time. The time it takes. A time that's different for everyone. The cruelty of some people is simply beyond fathom. I made sure that my essay on her ad was blistering, btw; she gave me a B+. She was visibly shaken by it, couldn't look me in the eye or speak when she returned it. Serves her goddamn right, I would never wish for her to be in my place.
posted by fraula at 11:12 AM on September 21, 2015 [12 favorites]

fraula, I am so sorry that happened to you -- the assault and the abominable behavior by that TA. What an asshole.
posted by brainwane at 2:33 PM on September 21, 2015 [1 favorite]

Holy shit fraula, that's horrific.

Re the video: I can't help but think of it in dialogue with the video for "Bad Romance," which had a bunch of stylized references to sex trafficking... and I was especially surprised to see it was directed by Catherine Hardwicke (of Twilight fame).
posted by psoas at 7:02 AM on September 23, 2015

i finally watched it and my god the tears. for me it wasn't the depictions of the assaults but the coping mechanisms part - so many tiny nods to such familiar experiences, but not in a way that seems like torture porn.
posted by nadawi at 11:33 AM on September 23, 2015 [1 favorite]