Time Magazine Person of the Year Award 2017 has been awarded to the MeToo sexual harassment movement on Twitter. The award, which can be given to any person, group or even object that impacted on people's lives, beat out other nominees Donald Trump, Chinese president Xi Jinping and Football quarterback, Colin Kaepernick, Associated Press (AP) reported 6 December 2017.
The announcement was made on the "Today" show on NBC, which is a bit ironic as the host, Matt Lauer was recently fired for sexual harassment, AP pointed out.
The anti-harassment #MeToo movement named Time magazine's Person of the Year. https://t.co/ZzVlW5lLez
— The Associated Press (@AP) December 6, 2017
The silence breakers
Time magazine termed this the 'silence breakers." They wrote, The hashtag #MeToo (swiftly adapted into #BalanceTonPorc, #YoTambien, #Ana_kaman and many others), which to date has provided an umbrella of solidarity for millions of people to come forward with their stories, is part of the picture, but not all of it."
The movement that was kickstarted by Ashley Judd who spoke out about sexual harassment by Harvey Weinstein via the New York Times.
It went viral from there and in two months, men have been toppling like nine pins. It seems the whole of Hollywood, has just about had enough of years of having to put up with inappropriate behavior in the workplace.
Across wealth and racial divides
As the movement gathered strength, it spread beyond racial and income divides. Women from engineers, actresses, farm workers and more have found a voice and it all comes from a movement that has no particular leader or even name. It is no longer just a Hollywood story.
So many women who were stunned or alternatively thrilled to discover they were not alone, and more importantly, had a voice, were thrilled to hear the news about Time Magazine's cover.
They took to Twitter to express how they felt.
Tweets of joy on #MeToo Hashtag
"So overjoyed I’m crying in my freakin coffee this morning. Thank you #MeToo heros and @TIME," posted Lori.
So overjoyed I’m crying in my freakin coffee this morning. Thank you #MeToo heros and @TIME ❤️❤️❤️
— lori b. 🇺🇸❄️🗽❤️💙 (@hoskins_lori) December 6, 2017
Men celebrated the decision by Time too.
Brendan wrote, "Wow, they actually went ahead and named all of the #MeToo’ers Person of the Year. Bold, brilliant choice."
Wow, they actually went ahead and named all of the #MeToo’ers Person of the Year. Bold, brilliant choice. https://t.co/LbvI9gJZC4
— Brendan Foley (@TheTrueBrendanF) December 6, 2017
One of the most telling tweets was by @kate_mccrea, who posted, "Congratulations @rosemcgowan and the #MeToo movement for making @TIME Person of the Year.
Our voices won’t be silenced ever again because of your bravery."
Congratulations @rosemcgowan and the #MeToo movement for making @TIME Person of the Year. Our voices won’t be silenced ever again because of your bravery.
— Kate McCrea (@kate_mccrea) December 6, 2017
The voices that were silenced for so very long will never be silenced again. For women all over the westerne world, the right to speak out has finally arrived. The sad and lonely tears, the "if-you-can't-take-a-joke-you-shouldn't-be-in-the-game," attitude has been torn down. Today is possibly one of the most significant days for western women in modern history.