The main difference between men and women is that men are lunatics and women are idiots.

This line reads as a deliberately abrasive epigram: a comic overstatement that refuses sentimental ideas of innate moral or intellectual superiority in either sex. By pairing “lunatics” with “idiots,” it satirizes gender stereotyping itself—suggesting that attempts to draw a clean, flattering distinction between men and women collapse into caricature. The joke’s sting also points to West’s broader skepticism about social myths that excuse irrationality (often coded as masculine) or reward compliant dullness (often coded as feminine). Its value is less as a literal claim than as a provocation, forcing readers to notice how quickly “difference” talk becomes dehumanizing.