< Return to Video

Découverte de la non-binarité : le témoignage de Cami

  • 0:00 - 0:04
    Even if you don’t understand,
    you can still support and stand by us.
  • 0:04 - 0:07
    Our identity remains valid,
    and it exists.
  • 0:07 - 0:08
    [Non-binary Testimonials]
  • 0:08 - 0:11
    My name is Cami,
    I’m 22,
  • 0:11 - 0:13
    And I’m here to talk about
    my non-binary identity.
  • 0:13 - 0:17
    Non-binarity is an umbrella term that
    includes all gender identities
  • 0:17 - 0:21
    that are neither exclusively masculine
    nor exclusively feminine.
  • 0:21 - 0:22
    It can mean being agender,
  • 0:22 - 0:24
    “a” as in absence,
    without gender,
  • 0:24 - 0:25
    which is neutral,
  • 0:25 - 0:28
    or it can refer to all fluid identities,
  • 0:28 - 0:31
    as if we imagined gender
    as a spectrum
  • 0:31 - 0:33
    with two poles:
    masculine and feminine.
  • 0:33 - 0:35
    A cursor can move between the two.
  • 0:35 - 0:37
    These are people who are gender fluid,
  • 0:37 - 0:39
    demigender, pangender, etc.
  • 0:40 - 0:43
    I never really identified with femininity.
  • 0:43 - 0:48
    At 18, I was already
    questioning my gender,
  • 0:48 - 0:52
    and I met a trans man I was with
    for some time,
  • 0:52 - 0:56
    and we were able to put words on
    my identity, which is non binary.
  • 0:56 - 0:59
    I think that since he had a lot
    more information than me,
  • 0:59 - 1:03
    he helped me find the words
    to describe my identity.
  • 1:03 - 1:05
    Gender identity is who we are.
  • 1:05 - 1:09
    It’s the gender we feel,
    live, and experience.
  • 1:09 - 1:13
    Gender expression is
    what we show to others.
  • 1:13 - 1:16
    It’s the way we express this identity.
  • 1:16 - 1:20
    For example, you could have
    a masculine gender identity:
  • 1:20 - 1:22
    a man,
  • 1:22 - 1:24
    with a feminine gender expression,
  • 1:24 - 1:26
    with a lot of traits society
    considers feminine.
  • 1:26 - 1:31
    For example, Bilal Hassani is a man
    with a feminine gender expression.
  • 1:31 - 1:35
    When I told my parents that
    I am non-binary,
  • 1:35 - 1:38
    I also told them that
    I wanted to change my name.
  • 1:38 - 1:41
    I was 20,
    so it was 2 years ago.
  • 1:41 - 1:44
    My mom took it very well.
  • 1:44 - 1:47
    She was already well-informed
    about gender identity.
  • 1:47 - 1:49
    She was very open minded and
  • 1:49 - 1:51
    made me feel safe.
  • 1:51 - 1:54
    Telling my dad was a bit trickier.
  • 1:54 - 1:58
    I took longer talking to him,
    and I didn’t do it in person.
  • 1:58 - 2:01
    I sent him a message,
    since it felt easier to handle.
  • 2:01 - 2:03
    He reacted quite well.
  • 2:03 - 2:07
    He said he didn’t understand everything,
    but that he’d be there to support me,
  • 2:07 - 2:10
    it wouldn’t change anything,
    and he loved me the same.
  • 2:10 - 2:15
    It was a bit harder for my grandmother,
    with it being a very foreign concept.
  • 2:15 - 2:17
    She grew up in the countryside
    and later moved to Paris.
  • 2:17 - 2:20
    She lived with my grandfather
    for 50 years.
  • 2:20 - 2:23
    She lived within very
    cis-heteronormative frameworks,
  • 2:23 - 2:26
    where she never questioned her
    gender identity, or anyone else's.
  • 2:26 - 2:29
    When I told her,
    she was quite shocked.
  • 2:29 - 2:33
    But she has always tried to act
  • 2:33 - 2:35
    as well as possible with me.
  • 2:35 - 2:37
    She makes a lot
    of effort,
  • 2:37 - 2:39
    and rarely gets my name
    wrong anymore.
  • 2:39 - 2:43
    I filed for a legal name change
    request in 2019,
  • 2:43 - 2:48
    at a city hall close to where I lived.
  • 2:48 - 2:53
    I sent in a file I filled with
    statements from people close to me
  • 2:53 - 2:56
    confirming that they used the name Cami
    to refer to me.
  • 2:56 - 3:00
    I asked my school for a letter of support.
  • 3:00 - 3:02
    Then, I submitted my application
  • 3:02 - 3:04
    and waited for a few months.
  • 3:04 - 3:06
    Wait times depends on the
    city hall.
  • 3:06 - 3:08
    And, I got approval for the name change.
  • 3:08 - 3:09
    Misgendering someone
  • 3:09 - 3:13
    means referring to them using
    the wrong pronouns.
  • 3:13 - 3:16
    So, misgendering a non-binary person
  • 3:16 - 3:20
    who explicitly requested you to
    use neutral, "they/them", pronouns,
  • 3:20 - 3:24
    would be to gender them,
    to the masculine or feminine.
  • 3:24 - 3:27
    Personally, I use so-called
    feminine pronouns when speaking
  • 3:27 - 3:29
    and neutral pronouns when writing.
  • 3:30 - 3:33
    I usually say right away that
  • 3:33 - 3:37
    I prefer to be referred to
    with feminine pronouns when speaking.
  • 3:37 - 3:39
    If someone doesn’t say it unprompted,
  • 3:39 - 3:43
    and you’d rather make sure you’re
    using the right pronouns,
  • 3:43 - 3:45
    you can ask them directly
  • 3:45 - 3:47
    or wait for them to gender
    themselves in front of you,
  • 3:47 - 3:49
    and follow their lead.
  • 3:49 - 3:52
    In previous videos I’ve made,
  • 3:52 - 3:55
    there were lots of comments
    that invalidated our identities,
  • 3:55 - 4:00
    that denied our gender expressions
    and identities.
  • 4:00 - 4:04
    However, I don’t read many of
    those comments
  • 4:04 - 4:09
    because I know they’re often
    hateful or very tactless,
  • 4:09 - 4:10
    and they’ll only hurt me.
  • 4:10 - 4:13
    I have participated in a previous report
  • 4:13 - 4:16
    where people were portraying it
    as a trend,
  • 4:16 - 4:20
    that it only appeared in the US,
    barely 10 years ago,
  • 4:20 - 4:24
    that it was just a passing unisex
    trend, ect.
  • 4:24 - 4:26
    That is completely false.
  • 4:26 - 4:33
    I think that it's also a very white
    and eurocentric perspective,
  • 4:33 - 4:37
    because we can find several gender
    identities in many cultures,
  • 4:37 - 4:41
    that were completely erased
    during colonization.
  • 4:41 - 4:48
    We often hear that creating more
    and more labels to identify
  • 4:48 - 4:50
    and re-identify ourselves
    is problematic.
  • 4:50 - 4:55
    But I think it's crucial to first have
    something to identify with,
  • 4:55 - 4:57
    in order to separate ourselves
  • 4:57 - 4:59
    from an arbitrarily imposed identity.
  • 4:59 - 5:02
    I think it’s necessary to find
    ourselves within a community,
  • 5:02 - 5:04
    to build connections,
    to know we’re not alone,
  • 5:04 - 5:05
    that there’s support
  • 5:05 - 5:09
    and that others like us exist,
    who understand and hear us.
  • 5:09 - 5:11
    If I had just one thing to say, it
  • 5:11 - 5:14
    would be that even if you
    don’t really understand,
  • 5:14 - 5:16
    you can still offer support and
    stand by us.
  • 5:16 - 5:17
    You can learn,
  • 5:17 - 5:19
    and unlearn thought patterns,
  • 5:19 - 5:23
    educate yourself,
    help your loved ones,
  • 5:23 - 5:28
    even if you don’t fully understand
    what their gender identity means.
  • 5:28 - 5:35
    Secondly, every non-binary person
    expresses their identity differently.
  • 5:35 - 5:40
    Some go through medical transitions,
    take hormones, have surgeries,
  • 5:40 - 5:41
    while others won't.
  • 5:41 - 5:45
    And regardless of how someone
    chooses to transition,
  • 5:45 - 5:47
    whether socially, medically,
    or not at all,
  • 5:47 - 5:53
    our identity remains valid.
    It exists. And there are many of us.
Title:
Découverte de la non-binarité : le témoignage de Cami
Description:

more » « less
Video Language:
French
Duration:
05:55

English, British subtitles

Revisions Compare revisions