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Découverte de la non-binarité : le témoignage de Cami

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    Even if you don’t get it
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    you can still support and
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    respect our identity.
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    It’s valid and it exists.
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    Testimonials: Non-binary Identities
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    I’m Camille, 22, non-binary
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    and I’m here to talk about non-binarity.
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    Non-binary is an umbrella term
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    for all gender identities
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    that aren’t strictly male or female.
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    It could mean being no gender (agender)
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    or it could be all fluid identities,
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    as if we were imagining gender as a
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    spectrum with two poles mas. and fem.
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    We can move on this spectrum like a cursor
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    So, this includes people who are
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    gender-fluid, demi-gender, pangender, etc.
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    I never really identified with femininity.
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    At 18,
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    I started questioning my gender identity.
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    I was dating a trans man.
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    who I spent some time with
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    And he helped me put words to my identity
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    which is non-binary.
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    I think because he had access to
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    more information than I did
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    he was able to help me to find the word
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    of my identity.
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    Gender identity is about who we are
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    the gender you feel, live and experience.
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    Gender expression, on the other hand,
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    is how we present that identity to others.
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    It's the way that we express this identity
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    For example, someone can identify as a man
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    so he is a man.
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    He can have a feminine gender expression,
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    with many makers considered
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    feminine in society.
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    Like Bilal Hassani, who is a man
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    but has a feminine gender expression.
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    When I came out as non-binary,
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    I told my parents
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    I wanted to change my name.
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    I was 20, so that was two years ago.
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    My mom was chill,
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    she was already very aware of gender topic
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    She is very open-minded,
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    and made me feel safe.
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    My dad was a bit trickier.
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    I waited longer to tell him and
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    ended up doing it over text.
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    Because it felt easier that way.
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    And he responded well and he said
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    he didn’t fully understand but
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    reassured me he’d support me
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    it didn’t change anything for him.
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    He still loved me the same
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    My grandma had a harder time with it.
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    Because it was just so far from her world.
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    She grew up in the countryside,
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    later moved to Paris.
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    She lived with my grandpa for 50 years.
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    She was part of a cis-heteronormative way
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    where she never questioned her own identity
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    or anyone else’s.
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    So, when I told her about it,
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    she was a bit taken back.
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    But she’s always tried her best
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    to respect me
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    She makes a huge effort,
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    and she hardly ever messes up my name.
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    I applied to change my name in 2019.
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    I submitted my request
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    to the city town hall where I lived.
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    I picked up a file that I filled out
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    with statements from friends and family
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    confirming they used the name Cami
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    to address me.
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    I asked my school to write me
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    a letter of support and so on.
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    Then I submitted my application
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    and waited a few months.
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    It varies depending on the city,
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    and I was accepted for the name change.
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    Misgendering someone means
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    using the wrong pronouns for them.
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    So misgendering a non-binary person
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    who explicitly said to use neutral pron.
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    such as “they/them”, but someone refers
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    to them as “he” or “she” instead
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    Personally, I use “she/her” when spaeking
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    and neutral pron. when writing.
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    I usually tend to say it straight away.
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    I prefer to be addressed with
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    feminine pronouns when speaking.
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    If the person doesn't say it and
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    you want to be sure about someone’s pron.
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    you can always ask,
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    or just wait and see how they refer to
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    themselves and follow their lead.
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    In previous videos, there were a lot of
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    comments invalidating our identities,
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    denying our gender expressions
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    and gender identities.
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    I don’t read those comments very much,
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    because I know most of them
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    come from ignorance or just plain malice
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    and they’d only upset me.
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    I once participated in a documentary
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    where you could hear people say that
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    non-binary was just a trend,
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    that it only appeared in the U.S.
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    about 10 years ago
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    It was tied to fashion, unisex, etc.
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    But that’s completely false and I think
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    it’s also a very white,
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    Eurocentric point of view,
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    because in many cultures,
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    many gender identities were totally
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    erased during colonization, quite simply.
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    Quite often, we hear that it's problematic
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    or awkward to keep creating
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    new gender labels to identify
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    and re-identify ourselves, etc.
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    But I think it's really important to
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    be able to identify with something,
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    even if we reject the one
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    we were assigned at birth.
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    It’s also necessary to get together
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    in a community to create a bond.
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    To know that you're not alone.
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    There's support.
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    There are other people who are like us,
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    who understand us, who listen to us.
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    If I had just one thing to say,
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    it would be this:
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    Even if you don't get it,
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    you can still support and respect people.
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    You can learn yourself,
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    challenge old ways of thinking,
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    you can educate yourself,
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    and help those around you.
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    Even if you don’t fully grasp
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    what their gender identity means to them.
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    One last thing,
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    every non-binary people
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    express their identity differently.
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    Some will undergo medical transitions,
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    take hormones, have surgeries,
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    while others will not.
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    Someone transitions socially, medically...
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    Our identity remains legitimate
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    and it exists. And there are many of us.
Title:
Découverte de la non-binarité : le témoignage de Cami
Description:

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Video Language:
French
Duration:
05:55

Portuguese subtitles

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