< Return to Video

Découverte de la non-binarité : le témoignage de Cami

  • 0:00 - 0:02
    Even if you don't understand
  • 0:02 - 0:04
    You can still
    support and standy by us.
  • 0:04 - 0:06
    Our Identity is real
    and it exists
  • 0:06 - 0:09
    (Non-Binary Stories)
  • 0:09 - 0:12
    My name is Cami, I'm 22 years old,
    I am non-binary,
  • 0:12 - 0:14
    and i'm here to explain
    non-binary to you.
  • 0:14 - 0:15
    Non-binary,
    is an umbrella term
  • 0:15 - 0:17
    which includes
    all gender identities
  • 0:17 - 0:19
    that are neither
    exclusively masculine
  • 0:19 - 0:21
    or exclusively feminine.
  • 0:21 - 0:24
    It can be agender,
    the "a" meaning a subtraction
  • 0:24 - 0:25
    of gender
    or gender neutrality
  • 0:25 - 0:27
    or it can include
    all fluid identities.
  • 0:27 - 0:31
    Like if we imagine gender
    as a spectrum with two poles,
  • 0:31 - 0:32
    masculine and feminine.
  • 0:32 - 0:35
    You can have a moving cursor
  • 0:35 - 0:37
    that includes all people
    who are gender fluid,
  • 0:37 - 0:39
    demi-gender, pangender, etc.
  • 0:39 - 0:42
    I've never really identified
    with femininity.
  • 0:42 - 0:45
    At 18 years old, I already started
  • 0:45 - 0:47
    to ask questions
    on my gender identity
  • 0:48 - 0:50
    and I met a trans man
  • 0:50 - 0:52
    With whom I'd been with for a while,
  • 0:52 - 0:55
    and together we were able define
    my identity
  • 0:55 - 0:56
    which was non-binary.
  • 0:56 - 0:58
    and I think it was due to him
  • 0:58 - 0:59
    having way more
    information than me
  • 0:59 - 1:03
    that helped me find the words
    to explain my identity.
  • 1:03 - 1:05
    Gender identity is about who you are,
  • 1:05 - 1:07
    the gender we feel,
  • 1:07 - 1:09
    that we live in,
    that we experience,
  • 1:09 - 1:13
    and gender expression,
    is what we show to others.
  • 1:13 - 1:16
    It's how we express our identity.
  • 1:16 - 1:18
    It's possible to have a gender identity,
  • 1:18 - 1:20
    that's for example, male,
  • 1:20 - 1:21
    you are a man,
  • 1:21 - 1:23
    and then have a gender expression
  • 1:23 - 1:25
    that is feminine
    with many markers
  • 1:25 - 1:26
    society considers feminine.
  • 1:26 - 1:28
    Like for example,
    Bilal Hassani, is a man
  • 1:28 - 1:31
    with a feminine gender expression.
  • 1:31 - 1:35
    I came out to my parents
    as non-binary
  • 1:35 - 1:37
    and that I wanted
    to change my pronouns
  • 1:37 - 1:38
    at the same time.
  • 1:38 - 1:41
    I was 20, it was two years ago.
  • 1:42 - 1:44
    My mom took it well.
  • 1:44 - 1:47
    She was already well-versed
    in gender issues
  • 1:47 - 1:49
    She was quite casual and very safe,
  • 1:49 - 1:51
    I felt safe.
  • 1:51 - 1:53
    With my father,
    it was little trickier
  • 1:53 - 1:55
    it took me a little longer
    to tell him
  • 1:55 - 1:58
    and i didn't do it in person.
  • 1:58 - 2:00
    I sent him a text
    because it was easier
  • 2:00 - 2:01
    for me to handle.
  • 2:02 - 2:04
    He reacted fairly well.
    He said that
  • 2:04 - 2:05
    even if not fully
    informed,
  • 2:05 - 2:07
    he'd be there for me
    no matter what
  • 2:07 - 2:09
    and that it changes nothing
    for him
  • 2:09 - 2:10
    and he loved me the same.
  • 2:10 - 2:12
    For my grandma, it wasn't as clear
  • 2:12 - 2:14
    as it was something
    very unfamiliar for her.
  • 2:14 - 2:17
    She grew up in the countryside,
    later moving to Paris.
  • 2:17 - 2:20
    She lived with my grandpa for 50 years.
  • 2:20 - 2:23
    She was in very
    cis-heteronormative social spaces
  • 2:23 - 2:25
    where she never had questioned
    her identity
  • 2:25 - 2:26
    or the identity of others.
  • 2:26 - 2:29
    When I told her,
    she was a bit taken aback,
  • 2:29 - 2:33
    but she always made sure and insisted that
  • 2:33 - 2:35
    She would act in the best way
    she could with me.
  • 2:35 - 2:36
    She puts in a lot of effort
  • 2:36 - 2:39
    She is hardly wrong anymore
    in using my preferred pronouns
  • 2:39 - 2:43
    I made a request to change
    my first name in 2019
  • 2:44 - 2:45
    I filed a request
  • 2:45 - 2:48
    to the town hall of where I lived.
  • 2:48 - 2:51
    I took a dossier
    which i had to fill
  • 2:51 - 2:53
    with testimonies
    from those closest to me
  • 2:53 - 2:55
    to say that they were using
    the first name Cami
  • 2:55 - 2:56
    to address me.
  • 2:57 - 3:00
    I asked my school
    to write me a letter of support
  • 3:00 - 3:02
    Then I submitted my application.
  • 3:02 - 3:04
    I waited for a few months,
  • 3:04 - 3:05
    it differs by town hall.
  • 3:05 - 3:08
    And I received approval
    to change my first name.
  • 3:08 - 3:09
    The act of misgendering someone
  • 3:09 - 3:11
    entails addressing this person
  • 3:11 - 3:13
    with the wrong pronouns,
  • 3:13 - 3:15
    Such as, gendering
    a non-binary person
  • 3:15 - 3:18
    who has explicitly said
  • 3:18 - 3:20
    use neutral pronouns
    like "they"
  • 3:20 - 3:24
    and or gendering them
    as feminine or masculine.
  • 3:24 - 3:26
    Me personally,
    I use feminine pronouns
  • 3:26 - 3:29
    when in conversation
    and neutral when written.
  • 3:30 - 3:32
    But generally I have a
    tendency to immediately verbalize
  • 3:32 - 3:36
    that I prefer to be addressed
    with feminine pronouns.
  • 3:36 - 3:39
    After, if the person
    doesn't say their own
  • 3:39 - 3:42
    and you want to be sure
    in gendering them correctly
  • 3:43 - 3:44
    you can ask for their pronouns
  • 3:44 - 3:47
    or wait for the person
    to gender themselves in front of you
  • 3:47 - 3:49
    so you follow their pronouns.
  • 3:49 - 3:51
    In my older videos,
  • 3:51 - 3:53
    There was lots of comments
  • 3:53 - 3:55
    that invalidated our identities,
  • 3:55 - 4:00
    denied our expressed gender
    and our gender identity.
  • 4:01 - 4:04
    Afterwards, I read very few
    of these comments
  • 4:04 - 4:05
    simply because I know
    for the most part,
  • 4:05 - 4:08
    They are malicious
    or very, very ignorant
  • 4:08 - 4:10
    and they will only cause me grief.
  • 4:10 - 4:14
    I once participated in a report
    in which it was said
  • 4:14 - 4:16
    that it was just a phase,
  • 4:16 - 4:20
    that it has just emerged
    in the US over the last few years
  • 4:20 - 4:24
    that it was connected to fashion,
    unisex fashion, etc.
  • 4:24 - 4:26
    That is completely false.
    I also think it's
  • 4:26 - 4:33
    a super white
    and eurocentric point of view
  • 4:33 - 4:35
    because, in many cultures
  • 4:35 - 4:37
    there are many gender identities
  • 4:37 - 4:39
    that were totally erased
  • 4:39 - 4:41
    through colonization,
    to put it simply.
  • 4:41 - 4:45
    So often, we hear
    that this is problematic
  • 4:45 - 4:50
    and it's uncomfortable make people
    identify, reidentify themselves, etc.
  • 4:50 - 4:52
    but I think it's super important
  • 4:52 - 4:55
    to be able to choose in the first place
    how we identify with something,
  • 4:55 - 4:57
    and to be able to
    unidentify with an identity
  • 4:57 - 4:59
    that was assigned to us
    at random.
  • 4:59 - 5:02
    I also think it's necessary
    to build a community,
  • 5:02 - 5:05
    to create a connection,
    to know you're not alone,
  • 5:05 - 5:06
    that there is support,
  • 5:06 - 5:08
    that there are other people
    who are just like us,
  • 5:08 - 5:09
    who understand us,
    who listen.
  • 5:09 - 5:11
    If I could only say one thing,
  • 5:11 - 5:14
    I think it would be
    that even if you don't understand,
  • 5:14 - 5:16
    you can alway support and stand by us.
  • 5:16 - 5:19
    You can learn,
    you can deconstruct your ideologies,
  • 5:20 - 5:23
    You can relearn,
    you can help those close to you
  • 5:23 - 5:25
    even if you don't completely understand
  • 5:25 - 5:28
    the entire scope
    of their gender identity.
  • 5:28 - 5:31
    A second thing,
    is that all non-binary people
  • 5:31 - 5:34
    have a unique way
    of expressing their identity,
  • 5:34 - 5:38
    There are people
    who will do medical transitions,
  • 5:38 - 5:39
    those who will take hormones,
  • 5:39 - 5:40
    who will have operations,
  • 5:40 - 5:41
    others who won't
  • 5:41 - 5:45
    and that the method of how you
    transition or not
  • 5:45 - 5:48
    whether socially, medically, etc.
    does not matter
  • 5:48 - 5:50
    Our identity remains legitimate
    It exists
  • 5:50 - 5:53
    and there is many of us,
    so many.
Title:
Découverte de la non-binarité : le témoignage de Cami
Description:

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

Croatian subtitles

Revisions Compare revisions