Time Magazine Names Person of The Year #SilenceBreakers

06 Dec, 2017

Time magazine is featuring “silence breakers,” a group the magazine identified with some familiar faces behind the #MeToo movement and at least one that is obscured, as 2017’s Person of the Year.

The focus is on those who triggered a #MeToo national outcry over sexual harassment.

“This is the fastest-moving social change we’ve seen in decades, and it began with individual acts of courage by hundreds of women, and some men, who came forward to tell their own stories of sexual harassment and assault,” Time editor-in-chief Edward Felsenthal said Wednesday on TODAY when making the reveal. “The image you see partially on the cover is of a woman we talked to, a hospital worker in the middle of the country who shared her story with us and some others but doesn’t feel like she can come forward without threatening her livelihood.”

Here are a few of the people included:

Tarana Burke: Burke, an activist, started the “Me Too” movement more than 10 years ago to help young women, “particularly young women of color from low wealth communities,” who have been sexually abused, assaulted, exploited or harassed.

Susan Fowler: The former Uber engineer took a big risk last February when she went public with her story of mistreatment at ride-hailing company Uber. In a blog post, Fowler said she showed screenshots of chat messages in which her direct supervisor “was trying to get me to have sex with him” to human resources. The response to her post shifted the balance of power in male-dominated Silicon Valley.

Sara Gelser: Oregon state senator Sara Gelser detailed in a formal complaint filed in November a years-long pattern of unwanted touching and sexual harassment by Sen. Jeff Kruse and indicated that at least 15 women have similar experiences. The statehouse launched an investigation and relieved Kruse of his committee assignments.

Adama Iwu: The a lobbyist for Visa, who said she was groped in front of colleagues, organized an open letter signed by 147 women to call out sexual harassment in California’s state politics. The letter launched a state-senate investigation.

 Ashley Judd: In October, Judd went public about how Harvey Weinstein sexually harassed her. In one situation in 1997, she said Weinstein invited her to a hotel room, greeted her wearing a bathrobe and asked if he could give her a massage or if she would watch him shower. Her claims against the Hollywood mogul helped set off an avalanche of sexual harassment allegations.
Blaise Godbe Lipman: The former actor-turned-filmmaker accused his former agent Tyler Grasham of sexually assaulting him when he was 18. Grasham was fired and is being investigated by police.
Rose McGowan: The Charmed actress reached a previously undisclosed settlement with Weinstein in 2007 after an episode in a hotel room during the Sundance Film Festival, the Times reported in early October. In 2016, she tweeted that she was raped by a studio head in 2007, but didn’t identify Weinstein at the time.
Alyssa Milano: On Oct. 15, Milano tweeted “If you’ve been sexually harassed or assaulted write ‘me too’ as a reply to this tweet.” The response was immense, an outpouring of personal and emotional experiences from people around the world.
A woman whose face is obscured: Time featured a woman who’s face is not in the cover photo to represent those who haven’t yet come forward.
USA Today
Image Time twitter

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