The #MeToo movement on social media that has exposed the prevalence of sexual harassment and abuse has been named Person of the Year 2017 by TIME Magazine.
Dubbed the “Silence Breakers,” TIME Magazine’s 2017 Persons of the Year are the brave souls who participated in the #MeToo hashtag movement.
In the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal, the hashtag was used by individuals that had experienced sexual harassment or abuse, and as a result, big changes are happening — not just in Hollywood — that will (hopefully) lead to better working conditions for women.
The announcement was made Wednesday morning on The Today Show by Time’s editor-in-chief Edward Felsenthal.
The magazine cover is a group photo showing several women associated with the #MeToo hashtag: Ashley Judd, Susan Fowler, Adama Iwu, Taylor Swift and Isabel Pascual.
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Neither original #MeToo hashtag creator Tarana Burke nor one of the front figures of the recent movement, Rose McGowan, are on the cover. But they are featured as part of the collage of women in the feature video on TIME’s website:
Also featured in the video is Terry Crews, whose story of harassment have lent a voice to the men affected by this culture as well.
In a statement, Felsenthal claims that the movement has unleashed “one of the highest-velocity shifts in our culture since the 1960s.”
He continues:
“The idea that influential, inspirational individuals shape the world could not be more apt this year. For giving voice to open secrets, for moving whisper networks onto social networks, for pushing us all to stop accepting the unacceptable, The Silence Breakers are the 2017 Person of the Year.”
Last year’s ‘person of the year’ Donald Trump was on the shortlist in 2017, but thankfully did not get the title for the second year in a row.
Read TIME’s full cover story here.
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