TIME Names The Silence Breakers As The Person Of The Year

No, TIME magazine did not honour Donald Trump for a second year in a row as the person of the year. In fact the long running magazine didn’t name just one person. They named several women and men who spoke out about their experiences dealing with sexual harassment and assault. 

Called The Silence Breakers, TIME focused on the stories of #MeToo creator Tarana Burke, Ashley Judd, Selma Blair, Taylor Swift, Alyssa Milano, Terry Crews, Megyn Kelly and others who came forward to tell their stories. TIME editor-in-chief Edward Felsenthal said on the TODAY show Wednesday morning during the unveiling of the cover that “this is the fastest moving social change that we’ve seen in decades and it began with individual acts of courage of hundreds of women, and some men, too, who came forward to tell their own stories of sexual harassment and assault.” 

While the movement may have started to gain steam around the time Ashley Judd stepped out the shadows and laid claims against now-disgraced movie producer Harvey Weinstein, it had started long before hand. It had even begun before Taylor Swift successfully won a lawsuit over Denver radio DJ David Mueller for grabbing her rear end. It had really begun when people started talking and going public about what had happened to them, and now it’s a landslide of individuals coming forward to tell their stories as well. 

And in case you were wondering, Donald Trump did end up as the runner up for the Person of the Year, but the decision had been made before he’d tweeted out his rejection notice.