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There’s A Powerful Detail You’ve Probably Missed On Time Magazine’s Cover That Named #MeToo As Person Of The Year
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There’s A Powerful Detail You’ve Probably Missed On Time Magazine’s Cover That Named #MeToo As Person Of The Year

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TIME magazine has honored the women and men who made moves against sexual harassment and assault by naming the #MeToo movement as its 2017 Person of the Year. The magazine’s cover featured five prominent women in the movement: Ashley Judd, Taylor Swift, Susan Fowler, Adama Iwu, and Isabel Pascual, whose name was changed to protect her identity. If you look closely, however, you’ll also see an elbow of an anonymous person. It’s not a mistake.

In an interview for Today, Time Editor-in-Chief Edward Felsenthal discussed the woman whose face is obscured, noting that she’s symbolic of all those people who have yet to come forward and may be struggling to do so for fear of repercussions.

It is important for these people to understand that they’re not 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.”

“These silence breakers have started a revolution of refusal, gathering strength by the day, and in the past two months alone,” TIME wrote. “Their collective anger has spurred immediate and shocking results: nearly every day, CEOs have been fired, moguls toppled, icons disgraced. In some cases, criminal charges have been brought.”

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    Time’s 2017 Person of the Year cover features “The Silence Breakers”

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    And there’s a powerful hidden message that resonated with readers

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    The internet fell in love with the clever symbolism

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    In his interview with Today, Time editor in Chief Edward Felsenthal explained the idea

    “Were we supposed to call some fantasy attorney general of moviedom?” – Ashley Judd, 49, actor

    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.”

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    Weinstein said in a statement he ‘never laid a glove’ on Judd.

    “When Trump won the election, I felt a crushing sense of powerlessness. And then I realized that I had to do something.” – Susan Fowler, 26, former Uber engineer

    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.”

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    “When I testified, I had already had to watch this man’s attorney bully, badger and harass my team, including my mother… I was angry.” – Taylor Swift, 27, singer-songwriter

    Radio DJ David Mueller groped Swift during a photo op in 2013. She reported him to his radio station, KYGO, and he was terminated. He said her accusations were false and sued Swift. She countersued for $1 and won.

    “In that moment, I decided to forgo any courtroom formalities and just answer the questions the way it happened. This man hadn’t considered any formalities when he assaulted me … Why should I be polite?”

    Mueller’s lawyer did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

    Adama Iwu, 40, lobbyist

    Iwu organized an open letter signed by 147 women calling out harassment in California’s capital, which launched a state-senate investigation.

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    “Young women told me about the same men who harassed me years ago. And all I did was participate in the whisper network: ‘Here’s what you can wear,’ ‘Here’s where you can go,’ ‘Here’s who to avoid.’ But you have to address it head on and as a group. It’s hard to call 147 women liars. We can’t all be crazy. We can’t all be sluts.”

    “It doesn’t matter if they criticize me. I can support other people who are going through the same thing.” – Isabel Pascual, 42, strawberry picker

    “I stayed anonymous because I live in a very small community. And they just think usually that we’re lying and complainers.” – Anonymous, 22, former office assistant

    After a co-worker allegedly began kissing and pressing himself on her, this young Native American woman says she felt trapped. Her office had no HR department. She didn’t feel her colleagues or family on her small, conservative reservation would believe her. So she quit her job.

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    “On the reservation, we keep to ourselves and don’t really put too much out there. I thought of all the other people that had no voice. They’re scared to do something like this because their parents say, ‘You’re not supposed to do that. You’re not supposed to speak up.'”

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    Giedrė Vaičiulaitytė

    Giedrė Vaičiulaitytė

    Author, Community member

    Read more »

    As a writer and image editor for Bored Panda, Giedrė crafts posts on many different topics to push them to their potential. She's also glad that her Bachelor’s degree in English Philology didn’t go to waste (although collecting dust in the attic could also be considered an achievement of aesthetic value!) Giedrė is an avid fan of cats, photography, and mysteries, and a keen observer of the Internet culture which is what she is most excited to write about. Since she's embarked on her journalistic endeavor, Giedrė has over 600 articles under her belt and hopes for twice as much (fingers crossed - half of them are about cats).

    Read less »
    Giedrė Vaičiulaitytė

    Giedrė Vaičiulaitytė

    Author, Community member

    As a writer and image editor for Bored Panda, Giedrė crafts posts on many different topics to push them to their potential. She's also glad that her Bachelor’s degree in English Philology didn’t go to waste (although collecting dust in the attic could also be considered an achievement of aesthetic value!) Giedrė is an avid fan of cats, photography, and mysteries, and a keen observer of the Internet culture which is what she is most excited to write about. Since she's embarked on her journalistic endeavor, Giedrė has over 600 articles under her belt and hopes for twice as much (fingers crossed - half of them are about cats).

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    Felix Feline
    Community Member
    7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Rose McGowan should also have been included on the cover. She has been quite instrumental in bringing many of these predators to light, and encouraging many other women to forward with their stories.

    William Teach
    Community Member
    7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I was just thinking that. She really was one of the biggest voices for getting the media to pay attention.

    Load More Replies...
    Nancy E
    Community Member
    7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I would find it somewhat unbelievable that some women have never been harassed. My worst experience was at my husband's company party one year. I was 8 months pregnant & should have worn shoe boxes on my feet, they were that swollen. I was asked to dance , was groped & asked to go to a room . I knew I had done nothing wrong , but, I sure was angry, but , we decided to let it pass.

    Monilip
    Community Member
    7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    well, I've never been harassed. Ever. And I work in IT so my collegues are mostly men.

    Load More Replies...
    Michelle Warne
    Community Member
    7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I have always been silent along with thousands of women who were sexually abused. Because I said no, I was fired, lost my house, car and had 3 children at the time. FBI investigated, those people were fired, but nothing good happened to me.

    Bill Petersen
    Community Member
    7 years ago

    This comment is hidden. Click here to view.

    Because I won't give bribes to my customers at the School District.....I get fired....and my name is slandered. If I go to the FIB.....no one will EVER hire me again. People do bad things to TAKE things from you. They are BAD people. The fact is that if you are unwilling to pay the price for coming forward........you don't get to whine later. Men hitting on women is so prevelent because so many woman ALLOW IT....or....ACCEPT IT. You can train your children to steal, cus and hurt people. All you have to do is let them follow their worst impulses. Sex is no different. You let it go on....the guy will hit on the next girl. You want equality....stand up and report it. If you can't do it....stop thinking you're equal. The world is full of slugs....male and female.....if you don't identify them....they just keep on .

    Load More Replies...
    Load More Comments
    Felix Feline
    Community Member
    7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Rose McGowan should also have been included on the cover. She has been quite instrumental in bringing many of these predators to light, and encouraging many other women to forward with their stories.

    William Teach
    Community Member
    7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I was just thinking that. She really was one of the biggest voices for getting the media to pay attention.

    Load More Replies...
    Nancy E
    Community Member
    7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I would find it somewhat unbelievable that some women have never been harassed. My worst experience was at my husband's company party one year. I was 8 months pregnant & should have worn shoe boxes on my feet, they were that swollen. I was asked to dance , was groped & asked to go to a room . I knew I had done nothing wrong , but, I sure was angry, but , we decided to let it pass.

    Monilip
    Community Member
    7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    well, I've never been harassed. Ever. And I work in IT so my collegues are mostly men.

    Load More Replies...
    Michelle Warne
    Community Member
    7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I have always been silent along with thousands of women who were sexually abused. Because I said no, I was fired, lost my house, car and had 3 children at the time. FBI investigated, those people were fired, but nothing good happened to me.

    Bill Petersen
    Community Member
    7 years ago

    This comment is hidden. Click here to view.

    Because I won't give bribes to my customers at the School District.....I get fired....and my name is slandered. If I go to the FIB.....no one will EVER hire me again. People do bad things to TAKE things from you. They are BAD people. The fact is that if you are unwilling to pay the price for coming forward........you don't get to whine later. Men hitting on women is so prevelent because so many woman ALLOW IT....or....ACCEPT IT. You can train your children to steal, cus and hurt people. All you have to do is let them follow their worst impulses. Sex is no different. You let it go on....the guy will hit on the next girl. You want equality....stand up and report it. If you can't do it....stop thinking you're equal. The world is full of slugs....male and female.....if you don't identify them....they just keep on .

    Load More Replies...
    Load More Comments
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