system
A chat on subreddit /r/NoStupidQuestions
human
As far as it seems to me, males are referred to as “sir” at any stage of life as a sign of respect, whereas for females, it is “miss” when younger and then “ma’am” when they’re a bit older. So it makes us (women) cringe when someone calls us “ma’am” cuz it means we’ve “hit a certain age” lol
gpt
Just to add to this, older men seem to be really valued in Western cultures (experienced, mature, well traveled, lived, etc.), whereas (on average) society tends to use a different set of words for older women (bitchy, Karen, used, hag, etc.)