Time's Person of the Year: The 'Silence Breakers'

The women and men of the #MeToo movement take the honors
By Kate Seamons,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 6, 2017 6:35 AM CST
Time's Person of the Year: The 'Silence Breakers'
The cover.   (Time)

Who had the most influence on the world "for good or ill" in the last year? According to Time magazine, the honor goes to the "Silence Breakers." The voices behind the #metoo movement took the 2017 honors, besting other shortlist contenders like Kim Jong Un, President Trump, Colin Kaepernick, and the Dreamers. Writes Time: "The women and men who have broken their silence [on sexual assault and harassment] 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." A key passage from its lengthy piece:

  • "This reckoning appears to have sprung up overnight. But it has actually been simmering for years, decades, centuries. Women have had it with bosses and co-workers who not only cross boundaries but don't even seem to know that boundaries exist. They've had it with the fear of retaliation, of being blackballed, of being fired from a job they can't afford to lose. They've had it with the code of going along to get along. They've had it with men who use their power to take what they want from women. These silence breakers have started a revolution of refusal, gathering strength by the day, and in the past two months alone, their collective anger has spurred immediate and shocking results: nearly every day, CEOs have been fired, moguls toppled, icons disgraced. In some cases, criminal charges have been brought."
Time writes that it spent six weeks interviewing dozens of people who have shared their own #MeToo stories; you can read some of them here. (More Time's Person of the Year stories.)

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