In December 2017, Time Magazine named “the Silence Breakers” as their person of the year. This selection encompasses everyone who had stepped forward in the past year to share their stories surrounding sexual harassment and assault, and was specifically inspired by the unfolding cascade of sexual assault allegations in Hollywood. Time Magazine chose a photo of five women to provide a face to the movement. In doing so, Time Magazine presents a vision of feminism that is at least ostensibly more inclusive, implicit in its rejection of “choice feminism”, and provides simultaneous subversion and confirmation of the notion of respectability to the service of its ultimate goal. This magazine cover succeeds in integrating diversity as a component of its vision of unity. Among the six women presented on the cover, at least two are women of color. Though race is a point of difference, as is the exact outfits that each woman is wearing, each has been dressed in the color black and overlaid against the same greyish background. In bringing all of these women of different backgrounds to the same …show more content…
Presuming a sense of altruism among Time Magazine staff, the ultimate goal of such a magazine spread is the eradication of sexual assault, or at least accountability for those who commit it. The manner in which Time accomplishes this goal is distinct for different genders. Everyone who sees this cover receives the on-face message of unity in shared experiences and of purpose. This magazine cover confirms the idea that one’s experience as a woman is not anecdotal, but rather a part of an extensive pattern. For women, this revelation is validation, and perhaps encouragement to tell one’s story. For men, this is a reckoning, a reckoning that at some point the accumulation of coincidences becomes a trend, and that women are not lying or exaggerating when they tell their