Iron girls and concepts of female masculinity were mocked by the media and scholars. In 1979, on a popular crosstalk, xiangsheng, two men, Mr. A and Mr. B. criticized a local Iron Girl for her unappealing masculinity. Mr. B asked Mr. As if he would have “such a capable maiden for his wife.” Mr. A responded that “he would be afraid that such a woman might flatten him with a random swing of her overdeveloped biceps, not to mention what might happen if she actually got angry.” Iron girls became a tool for comedy. They were regarded to have cartoon-like strength and look overly butch. In 1986, a group of male scholars in Beijing claimed, “A woman who becomes masculine is a mutant. Capable women should be different from men. They have their own special charm, for example exquisiteness and depth of emotions, and well-developed imagistic thinking. Women's own latent abilities should be called forth. The appearance of "fake boys" and "iron women" is a disguised form of discrimination against women; it belittles them. Its basic point still is that men are better than women, and that therefore when women are strong they should resemble men.”
