Time's 2017 Person of the Year cover features the faces of five women who represent "The Silence Breakers" and serve as early examples for the thousands of people who have come forward in recent months and relayed their experiences of sexual harassment and assault. Why, then, does the cover appear to crop out the face of a sixth individual?
Time released a statement about the woman who was cropped out of the cover. She is a hospital worker from Texas who chose to disclose her story to the magazine anonymously to prevent her family from experiencing any backlash or negativity, according to the report.
"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," according to Time.
The woman reportedly issued a sexual harassment complaint anonymously to her employer. She told the publication during an interview she remembers vivid details of the encounter, but couldn't stop wondering if she could have done more to prevent it from happening.
The anonymous Texas woman is featured alongside the faces of five other women early to the #MeToo movement, including former Uber engineer Susan Fowler, lobbyist Adama Iwu, Taylor Swift, Ashley Judd and Isabel Pascual, a strawberry picker and immigrant from Mexico whose name was also changed to protect her identity, according to the publication.