In honour of all the victims of abuse around the world finding their voices and speaking up about the social ill they’ve had to endure silently for decades, Time Magazine has made these ‘Silence Breakers’ its Person of the Year replacing the United States President, Donald Trump, who held the title for 2016.
On who the Silence Breakers are, Time editor-in-chief Edward Felsenthal said, “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, who came forward to tell their own stories of sexual harassment and assault,”
Taylor Swift who is among the 6 women on the cover, came forward about a 2013 encounter saying a Denver DJ named David Mueller, groped her during a meet-and-greet. Of her abuser, Taylor said: “I figured that if he would be brazen enough to assault me under these risky circumstances, imagine what he might do to a vulnerable, young artist if given the chance.”
Ashley Judd, the first star to speak up about Harvey Weinstein also makes the cover along with former Uber engineer Susan Fowler, corporate lobbyist Adama Iwu and a woman whose face is not in the cover photo to represent those who haven’t yet come forward.
Alyssa Milano, Selma Blair, Sandra Pezqueda, Rose Macgowan and actor Terry Crew are also featured in the historic cover story.
