BY MARISSA CASTANOS
First, it was Charles Lindbergh. Skip a few years to Franklin D. Roosevelt. 50 years later it was The Computer. 30 years after that, it was Barack Obama. If you haven’t started to catch on, since 1927, Time Magazine has selected a person of the year that features and profiles a person, a group, an idea, or an object that “for better or for worse… has done the most to influence the events of the year.”
The selection began as an attempt to find a solution to the editorial embarrassment earlier that year of not having aviator Charles Lindbergh on its cover following his historic Trans-Atlantic flight. Ever since, Time Magazine has named a “Person of the Year,” ranging from U.S. Presidents to women, and even to some controversial individuals such as Adolf Hitler and Nikita Khrushchev.
This year, Time Magazine decided to name “The Silence Breakers” as their Person of the Year.
The Silence Breakers are the men and women who spoke out against sexual abuse and harassment, including the creators of the #MeToo movement. Time Magazine explains that “even though we feel like movie stars are nothing like you and me, we can actually relate to them in the most painful and personal way – through sexual assault experiences.”
This year’s Person of the Year shows the five faces of women who were some of the voices that launched a movement. These five women are Ashley Judd, Taylor Swift, Susan Fowler, Adama Iwu, and Isabel Pascual. Judd was one of the first women to speak out against Weinstein. Swift made a statement by sueing a DJ for just $1 for assaulting her during a photo shoot. Iwu is a 40-year old corporate lobbyist in Sacramento. Fowler is a former engineer for Ube and made allegations of sexual harassment at the company. Pascual is a 42-year old strawberry picker from Mexico who was brave enough to speak up about being stalked.
One detail that some may have noticed about the cover is that a woman’s arm is shown in the bottom right of the picture, with the rest of her body deliberately cut out of the photo. Time explained that she is faceless on the cover and remains nameless inside the magazine, as she represents “all those who are not yet able to come forward and reveal their identities.” These five faces are the ones that helped start a revolution of men and women coming forward and speaking about sexual assault, and most importantly given justice.
Time Magazine’s editor-in-chief Edward Felsenthal says that “this year’s winners had helped to usher in the fastest-moving social change we’ve seen in decades.” It is because of these women, and so many more men and women speaking up, that others are able to find a voice and speak out against sexual assault.
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