According to Wikipedia: “Person of the Year (called Man or Woman of the Year until 1999) is an annual issue of the United States news magazine Time that features and profiles a person, a group, an idea, or an object that “for better or for worse… has done the most to influence the events of the year””

I have been subscribing to Time magazine since my twenties and this is an edition to look forward to. Last year the award went, unsurprisingly, to Donald Trump, and given that he continues to shake things up, especially now he is President, it would have been no surprise if he won the award this year too. Instead it went to a group of women called the “Silence Breakers” – the voices that launched a movement.

We are talking people, mainly women but some men, that have spoken out against (usually) powerful men who have conducted themselves in sexually inappropriate ways ranging from giving unwanted attention with a sexual twist to their “victim” to rape, often done many years prior but covered up, because the accusers have been afraid to name their abuser who systemically were seen to hold power deterring them from doing so. Their testimony, often backed up by others, has led to the downfall of a number of high profile figures in the world of media and politics, to name but two, and this has been well reported. One wonders what else is to come.

It has certainly shaken high society and one cannot argue with Time for their choice when it comes to the significance of their actions. While each story is different, and I have little doubt there will be some making unfounded accusations out of malice (arguably, the jury is still out on the likes of senator hopeful, Roy Moore, ex-President Clinton and current President Trump) it seems the common factor is they feel they can now do so without backlash knowing their stories will be taken seriously.

Looking at some of the comments of some of my lady friends on social media and listening to the few who have told their stories, I sense great relief that all this is now in the open and the hope is that the culture that allowed these sexual predators to brazenly persist in their activities, often hooked on power, will be coming to the end. I grew up when comedies like the “Carry on” films and the Benny Hill shows, or the wolf whistle that accompanied a pretty girl waling past a group of men, tried to make sexual innuendo a laughing matter and maybe that was a contributory factor and women were expect to grin and bear it as a result, but hopefully that will end but not at the expense of demonizing the innocent or those who just need to learn to act in a way that doesn’t make others feel uncomfortable because of sexual inappropriateness.

While women especially need protection and not be subject to the unwanted attentions of those who prey upon them sexually, I hope the real innocents, who cannot protect themselves, i.e. children, will be safeguarded. It seems that powerful pedophiles are now being brought to justice in increasing numbers even though we do not hear this reported on too often, and this not before time, for the crimes they have subjected their innocent victims to hardly bears thinking about, and is more widespread than is often realised.  Let’s break the silence here too. The issue of child trafficking, sometimes linked to Satanism and powerful elites, must be dealt with.