"One has to belong to the intelligentsia to believe things like that: no ordinary man could be such a fool."

The assumption that men and women possess identical minds is pervasive in both the social sciences and the public-policy literature, despite well-known stereotypes of men being more aggressive, risk-taking and the like. A central feature of the sex-differences debate is the contrast between views of "ordinary" men and women from all backgrounds and educational levels, on the one hand - who are likely to say "of course males and females are different" - and the views of many social scientists and policymakers involved in "gender issues", on the other hand, with the latter telling the former not to believe their lying eyes. This denial of sex differences brings to mind a comment of George Orwell, writing at the end of World War II about the misguided views of intellectuals on the progress of the war: "One has to belong to the intelligentsia to believe things like that: no ordinary man could be such a fool."

Kingsley Browne; 2007
Co-ed combat