New Delhi: TIME has named ‘the Silence Breakers’ as its 2017 Person of the Year.


The Silence Breakers are the individuals who set off a reckoning over the prevalence of sexual harassment.



The women on the cover of the magazine are—Ashley Judd, Susan Fowler, Adama Iwu, Taylor Swift and Isabel Pascual.

President Trump was the runner-up for Person of the Year and Chinese President Xi Jinping came in third.

The Silence Breakers emerged amid mushrooming allegations of sexual misconduct and assault by Hollywood executive Harvey Weinstein. Dozens of other famous individuals, whether in Hollywood, politics, journalism or any other industries, were later exposed as sexual predators.

The women, and men, who broke their silence to share their stories of victimization gave a push to the #MeToo campaign. The campaign took off on social media sites and fueled a worldwide discussion on how endemic sexual harassment and assault is in our everyday life.

The #MeToo hashtag was created more than a decade ago by the activist Tarana Burke.