We Missed Something Very Powerful On The Time Magazine's Cover That Named #MeToo As Person Of The Year

Time magazine has just come out with a powerful message as part of its December issue naming the hashtag #MeToo movement as Times person of the year 2017. It features what its editor calls the SILENCE BREAKERS. Women who have suffered sexual harassment at some point in their lives and who are now speaking up as part of a nationwide movement. What is most symbolic is its cover that features not just the women it chose to feature in the cover story but an elbow of an invisible woman. It isn’t a picture cut on purpose; rather it is symbolic of that repressed voice, the countless number of women facing sexual harassment but fear to come out in the open because of family pressure or repercussions at the workplace. The silence breaker is a tribute to one growing voice.

In a special interview, Time editor in chief Edward Felsenthal stated that the obscured woman was symbolic of people who have still not found the courage to come forward. Said Felsenthal in a statement “The galvanizing actions of the women on our cover … along with those of hundreds of others, and of many men as well, have unleashed one of the highest-velocity shifts in our culture since the 1960s," 

1The person of the year 2017 isn’t just one person but multiple entities of one voice

So what exactly is the issue all about?? It is all about the #MeToo movement and that is being honored as Times person of the year 2017. It isn’t just one person but a collective voice. The story also features various personalities whose interviews have been revealed in the issue. Taylor Swift, Ashley Judd, Adama Iwu, Susan Fowler who was a former Uber engineer and a woman whose name was changed to protect her identity, Isabel Pascual.

Felsenthal says that it is important for all these women to understand that they aren’t alone. “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 own stories,” Felsenthal told NBC News, calling them “the silence breakers”. 

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2The silence breakers was triggered by accusations against Harvey Weinstein

The silence breakers were actually triggered and fuelled by accusations against film executive Harvey Weinstein who chalked up a huge list of accusations of his sexual misconduct. This created a domino effect resulting in personalities coming out with their own accusations against other famous personalities in Hollywood, journalism, politics and the music industry.

The feature has gone on to prove that such deplorable incidents do not make distinctions and women irrespective of their social status are targeted everywhere. The story introduces the concept of movie stars and how we assume that they may be glamorous, rich and much unlike us in society, but!! They are very much like all women in the most painful way possible and that is as victims of sexual harassment. The # MeToo movement won hands down in a poll conducted by Time to choose who should be its person of the year. There were 10 contenders. But not to deviate from the main story, read on what happen to the five personalities. 

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