Science Fiction & Fantasy Asked on July 19, 2021
It is well established in Star Trek: The Next Generation that female superior officers are normally referred to as sir. This is applied to Dr. Crusher, Counselor Troi, Cmdr. Shelby, Maj. Kira, Lt. Dax, and numerous admirals. This obviously fits in well with the egalitarian ideals of Star Trek.
This convention is made explicit in "Thine Own Self":
DATA: Counsellor, have you been promoted in my absence?
TROI: That’s right. Which means from now on you can call me sir.
DATA: Yes, sir.
In Addition, the first episode of Star Trek: Voyager, "Caretaker" contains this dialog:
KIM: Thank you, sir.
JANEWAY: Mister Kim, at ease before you sprain something. Ensign, despite Starfleet protocol, I don’t like being addressed as sir.
KIM: I’m sorry, ma’am.
JANEWAY: Ma’am is acceptable in a crunch, but I prefer Captain. We’re getting ready to leave. Let me show you to the bridge.
which again establishes that sir is the norm, although Capt. Janeway doesn’t prefer it.
Did this usage of the honorific sir start with ST: TNG or does it predate TNG in either sci-fi or the real world?
Related: What's the earliest in-universe reference to a female superior officer as "sir"?
Professor De Witt Douglas Kilgore, a specialist in English literature and cultural representation at Indiana University, has done significant research on race, gender, and equality in speculative fiction. In his book Astrofuturism: Science, Race, and Visions of Utopia in Space (2010), he attributes calling females "sir" to Star Trek :
The Star Trek franchise reinforced this idea by the convention of awarding its female officers the honorific "sir". This innovation was established in the second Star Trek film, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, dir. Nicholas Meyer, Paramount, 1982.
Likely, Kilgore is actually making reference to the use of "Mister Saavik" in the film, and perhaps equating it to "sir". At the very least, as "mister" is a male title, it foreshadows the use of "sir" in later Star Trek works. In any case, Kilgore's research suggests that we owe the use of "sir" as a bi-gender honorific to Star Trek, whether it first occurred in The Wrath of Khan or a few years later in TNG, at least as far as science fiction is concerned.
Correct answer by Praxis on July 19, 2021
Star Trek: The Next Generation seems to be the earliest case (that I can find) of a female superior officer being formally addressed as "Sir". However, it's not the first case of a female officer being addressed using a masculine honorific.
In Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982), Lt. Saavik is routinely addressed as "Mister Saavik" by Kirk. As a superior officer, Captain Kirk would not address a male Lieutenant as "Sir" but rather as "Mister" (c.f. Mister Spock, Mister Scott, etc.). He uses the same protocol with his female officers.
As far as The Original Series is concerned, Kirk seems to be in the habit of addressing female subordinates by their rank, while he usually addresses male subordinates by the general "Mister". I did find one example where McCoy addresses Nurse Chapel as "Miss":
CHAPEL: Doctor, that's not all you're going to do?
MCCOY: Miss Chapel.
CHAPEL: Doctor, there is more of it in him, entwined all through his body.
MCCOY: Miss Chapel, if you cannot assist me as required, call another nurse in here. But do one or the other now.
At this point (Operation: Annihilate!, S01E29), I believe Bones is a Lt. Commander, and Chief Medical Officer, while Chapel is a Lieutenant and Head Nurse, so he does outrank her.
I'm actually having trouble finding anything prior to the 1960s with female military officers, so if there is any precedent for it pre-Star Trek, it's not very well known.
These days, women in command is common in fiction (as in reality), and the "call me Sir" trope is very popular. It's not isolated to science fiction, either, as I've seen it on both NCIS and Castle. However, it does seem to be an entirely fictional conceit, at least according to this English.SE post:
https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/121727/can-sir-be-used-to-address-female-officers
In every case that I have witnessed (where the speakers are using English), women are addressed as "ma'am."
Answered by KutuluMike on July 19, 2021
I was a commissioned officer in the USNavy from the mid 70's onward. I reached full commander just before a medical discharge. We called other male officers of equal or lower rank as "Mr" and female officers of equal or lower rank by their rank.
Superior male officers were called either "sir" or by their rank. Female officers of superior rank were called either "ma'am" or by their rank. I never heard of anything contrary to the above.
If one wanted to be cocky, they may have called a female superior "sir". Repercussions would very likely have been negative!
Answered by Bill on July 19, 2021
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