Women behind #MeToo campaign named TIME’s ‘Person of the Year’

World

Published: 2017-12-06 16:54

Last Updated: 2024-03-28 11:16


The TIME's Magazine cover. (TIME)
The TIME's Magazine cover. (TIME)

TIME Magazine announced on Wednesday that it has named “The Silence Breakers,” the movement behind the #MeToo campaign, as 2017’s Person of the Year.

The movement, which aimed to raise awareness about sexual harassment and assault, was launched on October 15, 2017, and it went viral on social media after thousands of women shared their stories of 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 too - who came forward to tell their stories of sexual harassment and assault,” TIME’s Editor-in-Chief, Edward Felsenthal, said while making the announcement on NBC’s “Today” how.

American actress Ashley Judd, who accused Harvey Weinstein of sexual harassment, and Taylor Swift, who won a lawsuit against a radio DJ who groped her, featured on the magazine’s cover.

Allegations of sexual harassment against Harvey Weinstein went viral after the explosion of the #MeToo campaign.

“The women and men who have broken their silence span all races, all income classes, all occupations and virtually all corners of the globe. They might labor in California fields, or behind the front desk at New York City's regal Plaza Hotel, or in the European Parliament. They're part of a movement that has no formal name. But now they have a voice,” Felsenthal wrote in the magazine’s special issue.

“We are in the middle of the beginning of this upheaval. There is so much that we still don’t know about its ultimate impact. How far-reaching will it be? How deep into the country? How far down the organizational chart? Will there be a backlash?”

“The Silence Breakers” beat these nominees to the title:

Colin Kaepernick, President Trump, Jeff Bezos, Kim Jong-un, Xi Jinping, The Dreamers, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia, Robert Mueller and Patty Jenkins.