The year 2017 was a time when people stood up and shared their experiences, and most of the powerful stories told dealt with sexual harassment.
That’s why Time dubbed The Silence Breakers, some of the first ones who came forward, Person of the Year.
The cover features five brave women: Ashley Judd, the first woman to share her experiences with Harvey Weinstein; Susan Fowler, the former Uber engineer who blogged about her experiences at the company; Adama Iwu, a lobbyist who organized an open letter signed by 147 Californians; Taylor Swift, who sued a DJ for $1 after he sued her for losing his job after groping her; and Isabel Pascual, a strawberry picker who changed her name for the story to protect her family after being stalked and threatened at work.
But the cover story doesn’t just focus on those five individuals — it gives voice to other women and men who have experienced sexual harassment and have spoken out about it. That includes Rose McGowan, Terry Crews, Sara Gelser and Megyn Kelly.
The story was accompanied by a video in which Kelly says, “I always thought maybe things could change for my daughter. I never thought things could change for me.”
The choice was also in response to the #MeToo movement that took the world by storm after Alyssa Milano used the term, coined by Tarana Burke in 2006, in a tweet, urging women to tell their stories. In 24 hours, the tweet had 32,000 replies, Milano told Time.
The Silence Breakers were the choice for the cover over President Donald Trump, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Special Counsel Robert Mueller, North Korean Dictator Kim Jong Un, quarterback Colin Kaepernick and director Patty Jenkins.
The choice for Person of the Year has been met with overwhelming responses on Twitter:
