Lady Gaga’s striking new video explores sexual assault on campus

Lady Gaga’s music videos have long explored the darker undersides of sex and relationships, but her new clip for “Til It Happens To You” takes a much more serious turn by addressing sexual assault and how we as a society handle such violence.

The song, co-written with Diane Warren, was released to accompany the sexual assault documentary “The Hunting Ground.” The film explores the culture of assault, silence and judicial mishandling of rape cases on college campuses, but Gaga’s video presents an even more visceral depiction of those ideas.

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The stark video, directed by “Twilight’s” Catherine Hardwicke, depicts several unnerving scenes of assault, only to follow them with three real-life female victims dealing with the aftermath.

Gaga has been frank about her own experience with sexual assault as a teenager, and has been outspoken in supporting charitable and legislative solutions.

Though “The Hunting Ground” documentary has faced criticism for its research methods and its tone (and its focus on university campuses rather than communities more vulnerable to sexual assault), Gaga’s video is a rare, empathetic and powerful short film about resiliency and recovery.

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