TIME Magazine Honors The 'Silence Breakers' As Person Of The Year
By: Kayla Pasacreta
TIME Magazine Person of the Year 2017, photo via TIME Magazine
TIME Magazine has released their 2017 Person of The Year, and it ain't Donald, who has been accused of sexual assault by 16 women. TIME Magazine chose to honor the 'Silence Breakers', the brave women behind the #MeToo movement that has forced several men to be held accountable for their sexual assault and misconduct against women.
“For giving voice to open secrets, for moving whisper networks onto social networks, for pushing us all to stop accepting the unacceptable.”
TIME Magazine editor-in-chief Edward Felsenthal explained the magazine's decision to recognize the movement, describing it as the “fastest-moving social change we’ve seen in decades, and it began with individual acts of courage by women and some men too.” Some of the women TIME features are Tarana Burke, who originally started the #MeToo movement 10 years ago, actress Alyssa Milano, who helped the hashtag resurface, artist Taylor Swift, who sued a Colorado DJ for grabbing her butt, and Ashley Judd, who was the first woman to come forward about Hollywood executive Harvey Weinstein forcing himself on her. These women are driving forces of the movement that empowered and inspired many women to come forward with their experiences of being sexually assaulted and mistreated by men who too often abused their power.
Honoree Alyssa Milano provided gratitude for the feature and a powerful Twitter thread:
The movement forced a national discussion that has too long been avoided. 26 years ago, when Anita Hill came forward to say Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas had made several inappropriate advances toward her, sexual assault seemed like nothing but an overly dramatic, tall-tale. 2017 changed that.
