Découverte de la non-binarité : le témoignage de Cami

,Even if you don’t understand
.you can still always support us

.Our identity remains valid, and it exists

.My name is Camille, and I’m 22 years old

I’m non-binary, and I’m here to talk
.to you about non-binary identities

Nonbinary is an umbrella term that

includes all gender identities that are

neither exclusively masculine nor

exclusively feminine, so it can
be agender, meaning a subtraction without

a" gender that is neutral, or it can be"
all fluid identities, as if one

imagined gender as a spectrum with

two poles, masculine and feminine, with
.a slider that moves across

So, all people who are
,.genderfluid, demigender, pangender, etc

.I never really identified with femininity

At 18, I already started to ask myself questions
about my gender identity,

and I have met a trans man with whom
I was with for a while,

and we were able to put my identity into words

which was therefore non-binary, and

I think it's because he had

much more information than I did

that he was able to help me find the words

regarding my identity. The identity of

gender is what we are, it is the

gender we feel, the one we live, the one that

we experience and the expression of

gender is what we will show to the world, what

to others, it is the way we will

express this identity, so we can

have a gender identity through

for example, masculine, so we are a man

and we will have a gender expression that

.will be feminine, with a lot of

markers considered feminine in

society, such as, for example, Bassani, who

is a man with an expression of

feminine gender expression. I announced to my

parents that I was non-binary and that

I wanted to change my name at the same time

I was 20 years old, so it was

years ago, and uh, my mom took it very well.

She was already very aware of the

gender issues, she was quite

deconstructed and very, very safe. I felt

safe. Uh, my dad, it was

a little more delicate. I took

a bit more time to talk to him about it, and

I didn't do it in person, I

sent him a message, actually, because

it was easier for me to manage, and he

reacted quite well. He said that he

didn't understand everything, but that, in any case

he would be there to support me

and that it didn't change anything for him, that he

loved me the same. As for my grandmother, it was

a little less obvious because

it was something that was very distant for her

from her, she grew up in the countryside

then she moved to Paris, she lived

with my grandfather for 50 years. She

was in very heteronormative patterns

where she had never questioned it

of her own identity or the identity of others.

So, when I told her, she

was a bit taken aback, but she always

made sure to behave in the same way, showing respect and

the best way possible with me. She

makes a lot of effort, she makes mistakes, but

almost no longer in the use of

preferred name. I made a request for

a name change in

2019, I made a request with

the town hall of the city where

I lived. I picked up a file that

I filled out with testimonies from my

family members to say that they used the

name Camille to address me

I asked my school to provide me with a

letter of support, etc. Then I

submitted my application, and I waited a few

months. Actually, it varies depending on the town hall

and I received approval for the name change

of first name, but it was a bit... confusing for a person

it's about addressing this person in

using the wrong pronouns, so

being a non-binary person who

would have, uh, explicitly said to use

neutral pronouns, like the pronoun "yel."

and actually, the gendered or non-gendered pronoun at

feminine or masculine, for me

personally, I use the pronouns

feminine when speaking and neutral in writing

and it's true that, in general, I have

a tendency to say it right away. I

prefer to be addressed as

to me with feminine pronouns when speaking

If the person doesn't do it, then

on their own and you would prefer to be

sure to address it correctly, you

can ask them for their pronouns, or

wait for the person to gender themselves in

front of you to follow their gender expression

in the videos I've already made

previously, there were many

comments that invalidate, in fact, ou

identities, nor our expressions of

gender and our gender identities. After, uh

I read very few of those comments

I read very few of those comments

Most of them are malicious or very

very clumsy and will just make me

feel hurt. I have already participated in

a report in which we could

hear that it was just a trend

that it had only appeared a few

years ago in the United States, ten years ago, that

it was really related to the

fashion too, like unisex fashion, etc.

That's completely false, and I think

that it's also a very

very white and very Eurocentric point of view

because in many cultures around the world

we find multiple gender identities that

gender identities that have been completely erased

during colonization, in fact, everything

simply, it's often said that

it's problematic, or it's

embarrassing to recreate categories and still

boxes to identify oneself and

re-identify, etc. But I think that

it's really important to be able to

first identify as something

in order to disidentify from

identity that was assigned to us

arbitrarily. I think that, yeah, it's

necessary to also find ourselves in

community to create connection, to know

that we're not alone, that there is support

that there are other people who are

like us, who understand us, who

listen to us. If I had just one thing to

say, I think it would be that even if you

don't understand, you can always

support and accompany. You can

learn, you can deconstruct

thought patterns, you can

educate yourself, you can help your loved ones

even if you don't fully understand everything

the full scope of what it means, what matters is

their gender identity, a second

thing is that all non-binaries

have a different way

of expressing their identity, that there are

people who will have... who will

undergo medical transitions, who will

take hormones, who will undergo

surgeries, others will not, and that few

regardless of how we might be able to

transition or not, socially

medically, etc., our identity

remains valid and it exists, and we

are very numerous, many