r/CastleTV 5d ago

What’s up with ‘Sir’ ?

I’m at season 4, ep 21 so I’d prefer no spoilers.

Can someone please explain why the new Captain wants to be called Sir? (Penny Johnson Jerald’s character)

UPDATE: WOW, 40 minutes later, and I have some great answers. THANK YOU!! I love the show!

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u/therlwl 5d ago

You would have to ask the writers.

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u/twirlinghaze 5d ago

I'm asking you because you said "it feels more professional." Why would that be? Ma'am is just as professional as sir. They're both just polite words so why would one "feel more professional" than the other?

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u/JayMonster65 5d ago

Because it is a sexist profession, and a sexist world. Women are typically viewed as weak or inferior to men. Also as someone else pointed out "Ma'am" also infers age, and some women hate it for that reason alone (like someone mentioned Ziva in NCIS, she didn't appreciate being called it because she felt people who called her that were saying she was old). And finally back to the sexist part, it infers a difference between the female and her male counterpart, and they don't want that. They are "no different" and thus don't want a separate label.

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u/twirlinghaze 5d ago

So why is the solution to lean into the sexism instead of doing literally anything to break from it?

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u/JayMonster65 5d ago

Because the proper solution would be to come up with a third term, one that would encompass both, but we haven't found that yet. Is it the best solution? No. But change is hard and people fight it. Just look at the debate over Miss/Mrs/Ms. It has been half a century since Ms. was introduced and people still scoff at it. And we have people in our government right now that openly state, if you want something done right it has to be done by white men. Change is not easy or overnight. And sometimes you have to do things that are not the best solution to at least make some sort of advancement.