Tonight at the Academy Awards, Oscar-nominated performer, Lady Gaga, took the stage in support of the millions of victims of sexual violence. In an incredibly passionate performance of her song “Til it Happens to You,” Lady Gaga laid it all on the table and it was spectacular. I was moved to tears by her conviction, courage, vulnerability and, of course, her beautiful voice.
Lady Gaga, a victim of sexual violence herself, was joined on stage by several dozen survivors who each had their own statement written on their arm. Those included sentiments like “unbreakable,” “not your fault,” and “it happened to me.”
The song was introduced by Vice President Joe Biden who represented the White House’s It’s On Us campaign to end sexual assault.
Every day, I become more disillusioned with our society’s unwillingness to end the abuse experienced by one in five women and one in 71 men. In the light of these feelings, I was so happy to see this years’ Oscars would be used as a platform to discuss important issues as well as glamour, talent and fame.
Take a look for yourself at the performance and the conversation around tonight’s event.
This article appears in Feb 25 – Mar 2, 2016.
Dedicated to all the women sexually abused by Bill Clinton and their reputations destroyed by his wife, Hillary.
All of them? How kind.
Leave it to a small-minded hater like What, Again to belittle the pain and struggle of millions of survivors by conflating philandering with sexual abuse, for the sheer pettiness of party politics.
Nice going, dude. Now crawl back into your garbage can and shut the lid.
Skinnyman, the Lewinsky incident was philandering. The Juanita Broaddrick incident was not.
And for what it’s worth, I don’t like any of the candidates from either party. So it’s not about politics for me.