TIME(NEW YORK) —TIME magazine’s Person of the Year is dedicated to “The Silence Breakers” — what TIME is dubbing the women, and men, who are speaking out against sexual harassment and assault after years of suffering in silence, or being ignored.
Many of the people included in the magazine’s feature article are familiar famous faces, including Ashley Judd and Rose McGowan, and actor Terry Crews — while others are non-celebrities, though their stories of sexual harassment, assault and threats of retaliation are as familiar and disturbing as those told by their celebrated counterparts.
McGowan and her “Rose Army” rose up after allegations began mounting against disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, who allegedly also made sexual advances to Judd. After a bombshell report surfaced with multiple women accusing Weinstein of sexual harassment and worse, it was revealed Weinstein paid a six-figure settlement to McGowan, who claims the producer raped her, then ruined her career.
Other accusations against Weinstein came from dozens of other women in the industry, including Paz de la Huerta, Angelina Jolie, and Gwyneth Paltrow, to name only a few. Weinstein denies all claims of non-consensual sex.
Showing harassment and assault shows no gender bounds, Crews spoke out after he says he was publicly, painfully groped and humiliated at a Hollywood party by William Morris Endeavor and agent Adam Venit; Crews is now suing the agency and the agent, whom Crews insisted was only given what amounts to a slap on the wrist for the offense.
“They might labor in California fields, or behind the front desk at New York City’s regal Plaza Hotel, or in the European Parliament,” TIME writes. “They’re part of a movement that has no formal name. But now they have a voice.”
You can read the Person of the Year essay on TIME‘s website.
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