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Contempt and the use of the masculine

The use of feminine address is so expected from fellow hijras as a sign of solidarity that the use of inappropriate masculine reference will often provoke angry retaliation. An antipathy towards masculine linguistic forms is reflected in the hijras⁵ naming system. When a new member enters the hijra community, she is given a woman’s name to replace the name of her former, morę małe self. The hijras are strongly discouraged from referring to each other by these rem-nants of their previous lives, yet tellingly, they often employ them in disputes. If a hijra is in a herce argument with another member of her community, one of the most incisive insults she can give is to ąuestion her addressee⁵s femininity by using her małe name; as Sulekha explains, ‘We use them especially when we hght with each other. We⁵ll tell everybody what the person⁵s real name was, “Oh, so and so was such and such a name!” Then we⁵ll cali them by that name.⁵ The strategy Sulekha identihes here is elaborated upon by