Silence Breakers named Time magazine's Person of the Year

Associated Press

December 6, 2017 at 10:27 PM

The Silence Breakers are TIME's Person of the Year 2017. Photographs and cover composite by Billy & Hells for TIME; animation by @brobeldesign. #TIMEPOY
A post shared by TIME (@time) on Dec 6, 2017 at 4:35am PST

NEW YORK (AP) -- The silence breakers have been named Time magazine's Person of the Year.

Dozens of men and women have shared their stories since October about sexual misconduct by numerous high-profile men in entertainment, media, business and sports. The revelations also helped prompt millions worldwide to tweet about their experiences with sexual harassment and assault.

The movement began spontaneously in October after actress-activist Alyssa Milano followed on a suggestion from a friend of a friend on Facebook and tweeted: "If you've been sexually harassed or assaulted write 'me too' as a reply to this tweet." The hashtag was tweeted nearly a million times in 48 hours. The #MeToo movement was founded by activist Tarana Burke on Twitter a decade ago to raise awareness about sexual violence.

Rose McGowan reached a settlement with producer Harvey Weinstein in 1997 after accusing him of sexually assaulting her in a hotel room. McGowan’s decision to speak to the press this year helped expose Weinstein as a serial harasser. "The number of people sharing their stories with me is so intense, especially since all of this is incredibly triggering for me as well. People forget a lot that there’s a human behind this, someone who is very hurt. But that’s O.K. It fuels my fire. They really f-cked with the wrong person." (Weinstein has denied all allegations of nonconsensual sex.) @rosemcgowan is among the Silence Breakers, TIME's Person of the Year. Read the full story on TIME.com. Photograph by Billy & Hells for TIME. #TIMEPOY
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Sandra Pezqueda filed a suit alleging that her supervisor at the Terranea Resort, a luxury retreat in Southern California, pursued her for months. When she rebuffed him, he changed her schedule and cut her hours. "Someone who is in the limelight is able to speak out more easily than people who are poor," she says. "The reality of being a woman is the same—the difference is the risk each woman must take." (Attorneys for the staffing company that employed Pezqueda deny her allegations. Terranea Resort declined to comment.) Pezqueda is among the Silence Breakers, TIME's Person of the Year. Read the full story on TIME.com. Photograph by Billy & Hells for TIME. #TIMEPOY
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Susan Fowler’s February blog post about the harassment she experienced as an engineer at @uber went viral. Uber then launched an investigation that led to the ousting of its CEO Travis Kalanick and more than 20 other employees. "When other women spoke out, they were retaliated against. So there were certain things that I thought I could avoid: 'I'm not going to sue, because they'll make me sign a nondisclosure agreement. I'm not going to do press right afterward, because they'll say I’m doing it for attention. I can’t have any emotion in my blog. I have to be very, very detached.' And I had to make sure that every single thing that I included in there had extensive physical documentation, so it couldn’t be 'he said, she said.' And that's what I did." @susanthesquark is among the Silence Breakers, TIME's Person of the Year. Read the full story on TIME.com. Photograph by Billy & Hells for TIME. #TIMEPOY
A post shared by TIME (@time) on Dec 6, 2017 at 5:42am PST

Ashley Judd says she was sexually harassed by Harvey Weinstein when she was 29 years old. "We need to formalize the whisper network. It’s an ingenious way that we’ve tried to keep ourselves safe. All those voices can be amplified. That’s my advice to women. That and if something feels wrong, it is wrong—and it’s wrong by my definition and not necessarily someone else’s." (Weinstein said in a statement he “never laid a glove” on Judd.) @ashley_judd is among the Silence Breakers, TIME's Person of the Year. Read the full story on TIME.com. Photograph by Billy & Hells for TIME. #TIMEPOY
A post shared by TIME (@time) on Dec 6, 2017 at 6:05am PST

Millions of people responded with the hashtag #MeToo when Alyssa Milano urged them to post their experiences on Twitter. "It’s affected me on a cellular level to hear all these stories. I don’t know if I’ll ever be the same. I have not stopped crying. I look at my daughter and think, Please, let this be worth it. Please, let it be that my daughter never has to go through anything like this.” @milano_alyssa is among the Silence Breakers, TIME's Person of the Year. Read the full story on TIME.com. Photograph by Billy & Hells for TIME. #TIMEPOY
A post shared by TIME (@time) on Dec 6, 2017 at 6:22am PST

Time's announcement was made Wednesday on NBC's "Today" show, where longtime host Matt Lauer was fired last week amid harassment allegations. "Today" host Savannah Guthrie acknowledged Wednesday that this year's winner hits "close to home" and mentioned Lauer by name.

The two runners-up were Chinese President Xi Jinping and President Donald Trump, himself accused of sexual misconduct by numerous women. He has denied any wrongdoing.

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This story has been corrected to show that Time magazine's Person of the Year is the silence breakers. The #MeToo movement is a part of that group of people.

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Silence Breakers named Time magazine's Person of the Year

Silence Breakers named Time magazine's Person of the Year