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The whistleblower opens up about the intimate reality of being a trans woman in a men's prison.Â
In this clip from the new Showtime documentary XY CHELSEA, Chelsea Manning poses for the first photo she shares on her new Twitter account. She then notices how much of her cleavage is shown in the photo. She reflects on wearing dresses, saying, "I don't know if my body movements are trained yet for this kind of thing." This reminds her that she struggled with that in prison too and was constantly scutinized by inmmates, gaurds, and visitors. She experienced guards walking in on her while she was changing and had to deal with strip searches as a woman in a men's prison. Of their responses to her body, she said, "Their reactions could sometimes be complicated ... human."
In addition to serving seven years (2010-2017) in prison for leaking government secrets, Manning recently spent 62 days in jail for contempt of court after refusing to testify to a grand jury about WikiLeaks. She has been released from federal custody but may end up in jail again soon.
Watch the Showtime documentary XY Chelsea tonight at 9/8 Central.