Time’s Person Of The Year Was Brought To You In Part By The Hashtag

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Publish Date:
December 6, 2017
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Source:
The Mercury News
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Summary

It’s been quite a year for Twitter’s hashtag. It turned 10 over the summer. Now the women — helped along by a hashtag — who have set off a cultural reckoning over sexual harassment have been named Time’s person of the year.

The magazine on Wednesday named “The Silence Breakers” 2017’s person of the year. They’re the women who have spoken up and brought about the downfall of powerful men, from tech executives to politicians, journalists, movie stars and moguls. The hashtag that helped the movement, #MeToo, has put sexual harassment and assault front and center — online and offline.

Fowler’s post went viral and helped other women realize “there are other ways to effect change than through the legal process or HR,” said Deborah Rhode, Ernest W. McFarland professor of law at Stanford University, Wednesday. “It signaled to the watching world that women have other ways to make their voices heard.”

The #MeToo movement tells women they have both an opportunity to tell journalists their tales or just to post about the topic themselves, Stanford’s Rhode said.

Still, Rhode said, “I worry somewhat about trial by internet. We need to worry about due process.”

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