“People can say sh*t about Lady Gaga, but she’s not some stupid, brainless bitch.”

A Facebook friend of mine posted the line above, accompanied by a RYOT news article about Lady Gaga’s latest video.

Although I’m not really a fan of Lady Gaga’s music, I was curious what all the fuss was about, so I took a peek.

It turns out, that the pop-icon is addressing the serious subject of sexual assault on women. Particularly, the fact that 1 out of 5 women in college will face some form of sexual assault.

Consider the size of a student body at an average state university—that is a frightening statistic.

Per the aforementioned article:

“Lady Gaga wants to empower sexual assault survivors to support each other with the new release. Right now only six percent of campus sexual assault survivors are reporting what’s happened to them, a number down from nearly double that last year. ‘Til It Happens To You’ is meant to build solidarity among survivors and a unified strength Gaga hopes will change these startling stats.”

Lady Gaga, herself tweeted the following:

We hope u feel our love&solidarity through the song & perhaps find some peace in knowing u r not alone through this film #TilItHappensToYou

The song is available to purchase, and a portion of proceeds will be donated to organizations dedicated to helping survivors of sexual assault.

Although, Lady Gaga’s music isn’t typically my cup of tea—I do have a great deal of respect for an artist who is using her popularity and reach to address important social issues.

This isn’t the first time she’s used her power and popularity for a good cause.

With this latest endeavor, she is empowering sexual assault survivors to seek support—but Gaga has also spoken out previously, as an advocate for equal rights.

Her efforts are compassionate and genuine—and those are intentions I can definitely get behind and support.

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Relephant:

Lady Gaga for Equality!

Lady Gaga was Bullied.

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Author: Yoli Ramazzina

Photo: Flickr/Philip Nelson, via Live Streaming Expert

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Bonus—Let’s do this instead: