Furthermore, notes Hsing Yi-tien, classical literature like this circulated exclusively in the upper echelons of society for many years before the ideas espoused therein gradually percolated down to society at large. Commoners during the Han dynasty didn't pay any attention to these ruminations of the elite, which for the time being wreaked no harm upon the average woman.
邢義田指出，後人所看到的當時言論，往往只是少數上層人物的論述，而從一種思想出現至普遍在社會推動，需要經過長時間，因此漢代女子並未真正深受其害。