Lady Gaga’s anthem for sexual assault victims deserved an Oscar

‘Till it Happens to You’ speaks for the unspoken masses


The Oscar’s last night saw Hollywood royalty dress up for the most important awards ceremony of the year.

Millions watched as Leonardo DiCaprio finally won Best Actor. The world rejoiced at him finally getting the recognition he deserved.

But one Oscar went to the wrong candidate.

Sam Smith won the Best Original Song Academy Award, and whilst his song is beautiful, he did not deserve it. “Writing’s on the Wall” is a Bond theme tune, with no real message or emotion evoked with it. It’s a song written for a movie franchise that generates millions every time a new movie is released.

Lady Gaga and her song, “Till It Happens To You”, has a message. It speaks for the millions of people, young people, who have gone through sexual assault or rape, and can’t speak out.

Her song was written about the US college system, where one in five students will be raped before they graduate. It was written for “The Hunting Ground”, a film documenting campus rape. Lady Gaga has herself been raped, and I think the fact that it’s so personal to her, makes it so powerful for us.

In Glasgow alone, I know of so many people that get upset on a night out, that are crying, alone and scared, at 3am, because they had another nightmare about their own assault. but they feel as if they can’t speak to anyone official about it, because of the likelihood that their offender won’t be punished.

Students are walking each other home, because they’re frightened of what could happen down Kelvinway. Of what has happened on Kelvinway.

A recent report by the Scottish Government states that one in ten women in Scotland have experienced rape, and one in five have had some kind of force against them to have sex.

But what about the people who are silenced?

Lady Gaga and her song speaks for us. Because we still, in 2016, do not have our own voice that can be recognised. Rape and sexual assault are still met with stigma, with a judgement that you could have said no. You could have stopped it. You’ll get over it eventually.

Her loss of the Oscar, comes after a week of absolute disgrace in the media industry where Kesha was not released from her contract with Dr Luke, who Kesha said sexually abused, and tormented her. Sony said they were not legally able to break the contract, despite owning the company Kesha wants to part from.

Yes, it’s just a little gold statue, and some could argue that this doesn’t have any effect of the song itself. But after this week of watching someone both famous and influential, speak out against her abuser and lose, Gaga’s loss further represents how far we as a society still have to go to get justice for those that have been raped or assaulted.