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Découverte de la non-binarité : le témoignage de Cami

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    Even if you don’t understand,
    you can still support and stand by us.
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    Our identity is still real and valid.
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    [Non-binary Stories]
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    My name is Cami, I’m 22
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    And I’m here to talk about
    my non-binary identity.
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    Non-binary is an umbrella term
    for any gender identity
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    that isn’t exclusively masculine
    or exclusively feminine.
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    That could be agender
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    “a” indicating
    the absence of gender
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    which is neutral
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    Or it could be a fluid identity.
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    If we imagine gender
    as a spectrum
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    with two poles:
    masculine and feminine
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    A fluid identity might
    move around that spectrum.
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    This includes people who are gender fluid,
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    demigender, pangender, etc.
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    I never really identified with femininity.
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    At 18, I was already
    questioning my gender identity
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    and I met a trans man
    who I dated for a while.
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    Together, we put my identity into words:
    non-binary.
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    I think that because he was
    much more informed than me
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    He was able to help me
    find the words to describe my identity.
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    Gender identity is who you are.
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    It’s the gender you feel,
    that you live, that you experience.
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    And gender expression
    is what you present to the world.
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    It’s the way you express your identity.
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    For example, you could have
    a masculine gender identity:
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    So you’re a man,
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    And your gender expression
    could be feminine,
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    with lots of markers
    that society thinks of as feminine.
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    For example, Bilal Hassani is a man
    with a feminine gender expression.
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    When I came out to my parents
    as non-binary,
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    I also told them that
    I wanted to change my name.
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    It was two years ago,
    when I was 20.
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    My mom took it very well.
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    She was already well versed
    in gender identity
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    She’d done enough unlearning.
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    I felt safe with her.
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    Telling my dad was a bit trickier.
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    It took me longer to talk to him,
    and I didn’t do it in person.
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    I sent him a message
    because it was easier for me to manage.
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    He reacted quite well.
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    He said he didn’t understand everything
    but that he supported me no matter what,
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    that it didn’t change anything for him,
    and that he loved me just the same.
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    It was harder for my grandmother
    because it was very foreign to her.
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    She grew up in the countryside
    before moving to Paris.
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    She lived with my grandfather
    for 50 years.
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    She lived in a very
    cisheteronormative environment
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    where she never questioned
    her gender identity or anyone else's.
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    When I told her,
    she was a bit out of her depth.
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    But she always made sure
    to interact with me
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    in the best way she could.
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    She tries really hard.
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    She almost always
    uses my chosen name now.
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    I applied for a legal name change
    in 2019.
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    I applied to the town council
    where I was living at the time.
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    I sent in a folder that I filled
    with statements from friends and family
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    confirming that they used the name Cami
    to refer to me.
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    I asked my school for a letter of support.
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    Then I submitted my application.
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    I waited a few months.
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    Wait times vary by municipality.
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    And my name change was approved.
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    Misgendering someone
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    is using the wrong pronouns
    to refer to someone.
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    So for a non-binary person
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    who explicitly asked you
    to use "they/them" pronouns
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    misgendering them would be using
    she/her or he/him pronouns for them.
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    Personally, I use "feminine" pronouns
    when speaking
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    and neutral pronouns when writing.
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    In general, I tend to say right away
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    that I would like to be referred to
    with feminine pronouns in conversation.
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    If someone doesn’t say it unprompted
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    and you want to be sure
    to gender them correctly
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    you can ask them
    what their pronouns are
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    or wait and see
    how they refer to themselves
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    and follow their lead.
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    On previous videos I’ve made,
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    there were lots of comments
    that invalidated our identities
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    and denied our gender expressions
    and gender identities.
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    I don’t read many of these comments
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    because I know that most of them are
    hateful or extremely tactless,
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    and they’re just going to hurt me.
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    I participated in a previous report
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    where I heard people say that
    our identities are just a trend,
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    that they only appeared a few years ago,
    10 years ago in the U.S.,
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    that it was actually about fashion,
    particularly unisex fashion, etc.
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    That is completely false.
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    I think it’s also an exceptionally
    white and Eurocentric perspective.
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    We see many cultures
    that recognize several gender identities
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    that were completely erased
    during colonization, essentially.
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    Quite often we hear that it’s problematic
    or annoying to create labels upon labels
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    to define and redefine our identities.
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    But I think it’s super important
    to identify with something
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    so as to separate ourselves
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    from identities
    that were arbitrarily assigned to us.
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    I think it’s also necessary
    to find community,
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    to create connections,
    to know we’re not alone,
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    that we’re supported,
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    that there are other people like us
    who understand us, who hear us.
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    If I could say just one thing,
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    I think it would be that
    even if you don’t understand,
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    you can still support and stand by us.
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    You can learn
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    And you can deconstruct
    your ways of thinking.
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    You can ask your loved ones,
    and you can help them
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    even if you don’t completely understand
    what their gender identity means.
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    In addition, all non binary people
    express their identity differently.
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    Some will transition medically,
    take hormones, get surgeries
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    while others won't.
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    And regardless of whether and how
    someone transitions,
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    socially, medically, etc.,
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    Our identity is still real and valid,
    and there are a lot of us.
Title:
Découverte de la non-binarité : le témoignage de Cami
Description:

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Video Language:
French
Duration:
05:55

English, British subtitles

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