Agender: Not a man, not a woman | DW Documentary

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"At last I feel at home in my body!" These are Robin’s first words after the mastectomy, a complex operation to remove female breasts. "A total liberation," says Robin, who is clearly over the moon.

Not that the flat chest now means Robin is a man, for Robin is "agender”. "I’ve decided I’d rather be seen as a man instead of a woman, but I don’t have a gender, there’s no neutral, no third, I simply have no gender,” says Robin. That’s why Robin is choosing not to use pronouns: "he”, "his” or "him” are all out of the question. Robin’s childhood and youth was punctuated with the realization: I’m not like the others. But for a long time, Robin didn’t know what to do. The breakthrough came at the age of 22. For the first time, Robin met young people identifying as trans or non-binary at a queer gathering. And Robin knew straightaway: I’m like them.

Robin’s parents, best friend and partner all reacted positively to the coming-out. For the partner, it soon becomes clear: His love for Robin is for the person, the gender is irrelevant. The two remain a couple. Right from the outset, Robin took him along on this personal journey of adjustment. First the hormone treatment, which gives Robin a deep voice, facial and body hair, then the mastectomy. "For me, my body and my soul, I’ve definitely arrived, but in society not yet,” says Robin. Awareness and understanding for people who are trans still needs to improve, Robin adds. Robin works as a volunteer in workshops to inform students and trainees about queer people. "I’ll continue to fight to be accepted as I am, so that I can be this way,” says Robin.

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