Chelsea Manning rocks a bold red look on the cover of Dazed‘s spring 2019 issue, titled “Infinite Identities,” which takes a stand for the global creativity of the LGBTQIA+ communities.
Here’s what the 31-year-old former U.S. solider, military whistleblower, and trans woman had to share with the mag:
On the importance of not spending too much time on social media: “It creates these discrete stories which we’re bombarded with constantly. Everything feels like it’s chaos, and it’s designed to be this way… That’s one reason why I’ve taken a step back from social media, because it really engages with this, and it’s a continuum. It’s bombarding our senses with this [idea] that we are alone and overwhelmed. It feels like your world is ending. If we just take a step away from our screens and realize we have communities, then we might be able to build up, and fight back.”
On being called a hero: “You know, there are some people who call me a hero. They say the leaks changed this, and they accomplished these things. But things are worse now. Even worse than they were in 2010.”
On living up to expectations: “I’m never gonna live up to everybody’s expectations in this regard. It’s exhausting. I f–k up; I mess up a lot in my life in general, and that’s just like basic stuff. Basic life things I’ve had to learn. I never had my own place. In the last year I’ve lived on my own for the first time, learning how to build credit, how to have an apartment, how to pay rent on time, how to consistently clean.”
For more from Chelsea, visit DazedDigital.com.