There's no evidence whatsoever that men are more rational than

Hear the words of Albert Ellis, a man of reason and healer of minds: “There’s no evidence whatsoever that men are more rational than women. Both sexes seem to be equally irrational.” At first, these words strike like the clash of cymbals, breaking apart the ancient delusion that men stand as lords of reason while women are ruled by whim. Yet behind their simplicity lies a profound truth: that irrationality is not the burden of one sex, but the common inheritance of all humankind.

For centuries, men boasted of their rationality, erecting monuments of philosophy and science to prove their superiority. Women, by contrast, were cast as creatures of passion, emotion, and unreason. This myth served to confine them, to deny them education, leadership, and voice. But Ellis, a master of modern psychology and father of rational emotive behavior therapy, stripped away this illusion. He declared that both man and woman alike stumble in the labyrinth of thought, swayed by desires, fears, and illusions. Reason is no man’s exclusive crown; folly sits equally on every head.

Consider the tale of ancient Troy, where men and women alike fell prey to irrationality. Paris, a man, abandoned reason for desire when he stole away Helen. Helen herself, though knowing the ruin her beauty could bring, was entangled by emotion and longing. Priam, king of Troy, clung to hope when wisdom counseled surrender. Agamemnon, leader of the Greeks, was blinded by pride. Were men here more rational than women? No, the flames that consumed Troy were fed equally by folly, ambition, and passion from both sexes.

Ellis’s words remind us that the struggle for reason is not a war between men and women, but a battle fought within every heart. Both carry emotions that rise like storms, both stumble in pride, both chase illusions that lead to ruin. And yet, both also possess the spark of clarity, the capacity to pause, to question, to turn from folly to wisdom. Rationality is not the inheritance of one sex, but the discipline of any soul that seeks it.

This truth also calls us to humility. For how often do we see men claim the mantle of logic while dismissing the insight of women as mere feeling? Yet history is filled with women of profound clarity: Hypatia of Alexandria, who taught philosophy in a world that despised her sex; Marie Curie, who pursued the mysteries of matter with relentless discipline; and countless others whose reason guided discoveries that changed the world. To deny them is not only unjust but irrational itself.

And so, the lesson becomes clear: judge not wisdom by gender, nor reason by pride. Rather, look to the fruits of thought, the soundness of judgment, the humility to admit error. Every man and every woman is vulnerable to folly, and every man and woman is capable of truth. The difference lies not in nature, but in discipline, practice, and the will to think clearly.

What then should we do? Each day, let us question our own thoughts. Let us ask whether our judgments are guided by truth or by fear, by clarity or by vanity. Let us honor the insights of others, whether they come from a man or a woman, and let us be wary of dismissing wisdom because of the vessel that carries it. Above all, let us cultivate reason not as a banner to wield against one another, but as a light to guide us together.

Thus the teaching of Ellis endures: irrationality is shared, but so is the possibility of wisdom. Let us not divide ourselves by the false measures of gender, but unite in the shared labor of taming folly and nurturing reason. For the path to clarity belongs not to man nor woman alone, but to all who seek truth with courage and humility.