If you haven't seen TIME's most recent Person of The Year, it is truly amazing. TIME created a group of people known as the "Silence Breakers."
These people are all victims of sexual harassment or assault who spoke up and reported their attackers (something less than one third of victims do). The list includes Rose McGowran, Susan Fowler, Ashley Judd, Alyssa Milano, Sandra Muller (starter of the French hashtag #BalanceTonPorc), Terry Crews, Taylor Swift, Tarana Burke (creator of the Me Too movement), and many more brave and inspirational people.
One of the main issues addressed by the Silence Breakers is that victims of sexual assault are too afraid to come forward. This fear comes from a variety of social and legal problems. One of the most prominent of these problems is that people are shamed for coming forward.
Tarana Burke says the Me Too movement allows women to "Not just share their shame, but to put the shame where it belongs: on the perpetrator" (TIME Interview). Another problem is that when people do report their attackers, they are criticized for it. Terry Crews talked about how people told him that by reporting his attacker, Adam Venit, he could be ruining his (Venit's) life.
The problem with this mentality is that it demonstrates how our society does not understand the full impact sexual assault has on survivors. This mentality was the center of media attention last year when Brock Turner's father was quoted in saying that he was concerned for his son because of his loss of appetite after being accused (and later convicted) of rape. This gross lack of consideration for the victim does not encourage other survivors to come forward and seek justice.
One of the most controversial cases this year was that of Taylor Swift and David Mueller. Swift was sued by Mueller for 3 million dollars on the grounds that she ruined his reputation and career prospects. Swift was assaulted by Mueller at a meet and greet in 2013 and reported him to the radio station that was sponsoring the event (the same radio station Mueller was employed by). She did not press charges or pursue any legal action at the time.
Years later in 2016, Mueller sued Swift. Swift fought back with a counter-sue for 1 dollar and won.
Until now, Swift has not spoken about the trial or her personal experience. In her TIME interview, Swift shared her experiences, including how Mueller and his attorney were so aggressive her mother was unable to attend court the day of Swift's testimony.
This enraged her so much that she disregarded court formalities and set the record for the amount of times the word ass was said in a Colorado federal court. Even after Swift won the trial, there were people who criticized her for not taking legal action right away, and some media outlets went as far as to suggest she was lying about the assault altogether.
What is equally disturbing is that, because of Swift's other media controversy, mainly her relationship with Kanye West, there was a notable lack of support for her while the trial was happening. Her trial should have been a massive news story that set a new precedent for victims, but instead, it was ignored in favor of garbage celebrity gossip.
With the creation of "Silence Breakers", TIME has acknowledged the epidemic of sexual violence in our culture. I hope that everyone can see and understand these peoples' stories and appreciate the struggles they have gone through just trying to find justice and closure. There will be those who fight against this movement. People will try to discredit these role models and make accusations of untruth. But as long as there are still brave men and women who refuse to be silenced, our society can begin the long and hard road to recovery.
