Why one woman is cropped out of Time magazine’s Person of the Year cover?

Time magazine announced the ‘Silence Breakers’ – men and women –for speaking about abuse and harassment and pioneers of the #MeToo movement as Person of the Year. But the magazine’s cover shows an elbow of an unidentified woman, prompting attention of social media users with their torrent of questions as why the lady was cropped out? The Time has a powerful explanation to it.

The fast-growing social movement, which encouraged women to speak up about their experiences of sexual harassment, assault and rape led to allegations against Hollywood heavyweights including Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey and Dustin Hoffman.

But social media users were quick to notice that as well as the women featured in full, there was also an anonymous arm in the shot, on the right-hand side of the cover.

Many believed that the mystery elbow alongside Ashley Judd, Taylor Swift, Susan Fowler, Adama Iwu, and Isabel Pascual was intended to represent all the people who have experienced sexual assault or harassment, and haven’t been able to come forward.

Here’s what Time magazine says about the cropped ‘arm’

“The arm belongs to an anonymous young hospital worker from Texas — a sexual harassment victim who fears that disclosing her identity would negatively impact her family.

…She is faceless on the cover and remains nameless inside TIME’s red borders, but her appearance is an act of solidarity, representing all those who are not yet able to come forward and reveal their identities.”