diff --git a/src/pytest_mock/_util.py b/src/pytest_mock/_util.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d3a732a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/pytest_mock/_util.py
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+from typing import Union
+
+_mock_module = None
+
+
+def get_mock_module(config):
+    """
+    Import and return the actual "mock" module. By default this is
+    "unittest.mock", but the user can force to always use "mock" using
+    the mock_use_standalone_module ini option.
+    """
+    global _mock_module
+    if _mock_module is None:
+        use_standalone_module = parse_ini_boolean(
+            config.getini("mock_use_standalone_module")
+        )
+        if use_standalone_module:
+            import mock
+
+            _mock_module = mock
+        else:
+            import unittest.mock
+
+            _mock_module = unittest.mock
+
+    return _mock_module
+
+
+def parse_ini_boolean(value: Union[bool, str]) -> bool:
+    if isinstance(value, bool):
+        return value
+    if value.lower() == "true":
+        return True
+    if value.lower() == "false":
+        return False
+    raise ValueError("unknown string for bool: %r" % value)
diff --git a/src/pytest_mock/plugin.py b/src/pytest_mock/plugin.py
index 3be8667..158b87d 100644
--- a/src/pytest_mock/plugin.py
+++ b/src/pytest_mock/plugin.py
@@ -18,27 +18,9 @@
 
 import pytest
 
-_T = TypeVar("_T")
-
-
-def _get_mock_module(config):
-    """
-    Import and return the actual "mock" module. By default this is
-    "unittest.mock", but the user can force to always use "mock" using
-    the mock_use_standalone_module ini option.
-    """
-    if not hasattr(_get_mock_module, "_module"):
-        use_standalone_module = parse_ini_boolean(
-            config.getini("mock_use_standalone_module")
-        )
-        if use_standalone_module:
-            import mock
-
-            _get_mock_module._module = mock
-        else:
-            _get_mock_module._module = unittest.mock
+from ._util import get_mock_module, parse_ini_boolean
 
-    return _get_mock_module._module
+_T = TypeVar("_T")
 
 
 class PytestMockWarning(UserWarning):
@@ -54,7 +36,7 @@ class MockerFixture:
     def __init__(self, config: Any) -> None:
         self._patches = []  # type: List[Any]
         self._mocks = []  # type: List[Any]
-        self.mock_module = mock_module = _get_mock_module(config)
+        self.mock_module = mock_module = get_mock_module(config)
         self.patch = self._Patcher(
             self._patches, self._mocks, mock_module
         )  # type: MockerFixture._Patcher
@@ -99,20 +81,14 @@ def spy(self, obj: object, name: str) -> unittest.mock.MagicMock:
         :return: Spy object.
         """
         method = getattr(obj, name)
-
-        autospec = inspect.ismethod(method) or inspect.isfunction(method)
-        # Can't use autospec classmethod or staticmethod objects
-        # see: https://bugs.python.org/issue23078
-        if inspect.isclass(obj):
-            # Bypass class descriptor:
-            # http://stackoverflow.com/questions/14187973/python3-check-if-method-is-static
-            try:
-                value = obj.__getattribute__(obj, name)  # type:ignore
-            except AttributeError:
-                pass
-            else:
-                if isinstance(value, (classmethod, staticmethod)):
-                    autospec = False
+        if inspect.isclass(obj) and isinstance(
+            inspect.getattr_static(obj, name), (classmethod, staticmethod)
+        ):
+            # Can't use autospec classmethod or staticmethod objects before 3.7
+            # see: https://bugs.python.org/issue23078
+            autospec = False
+        else:
+            autospec = inspect.ismethod(method) or inspect.isfunction(method)
 
         def wrapper(*args, **kwargs):
             spy_obj.spy_return = None
@@ -518,7 +494,7 @@ def wrap_assert_methods(config: Any) -> None:
     if _mock_module_originals:
         return
 
-    mock_module = _get_mock_module(config)
+    mock_module = get_mock_module(config)
 
     wrappers = {
         "assert_called": wrap_assert_called,
@@ -594,16 +570,6 @@ def pytest_addoption(parser: Any) -> None:
     )
 
 
-def parse_ini_boolean(value: Union[bool, str]) -> bool:
-    if isinstance(value, bool):
-        return value
-    if value.lower() == "true":
-        return True
-    if value.lower() == "false":
-        return False
-    raise ValueError("unknown string for bool: %r" % value)
-
-
 def pytest_configure(config: Any) -> None:
     tb = config.getoption("--tb", default="auto")
     if (
diff --git a/tests/test_pytest_mock.py b/tests/test_pytest_mock.py
index f9fa520..3d2c5ba 100644
--- a/tests/test_pytest_mock.py
+++ b/tests/test_pytest_mock.py
@@ -162,9 +162,9 @@ def test_mock_patch_dict_resetall(mocker: MockerFixture) -> None:
     ],
 )
 def test_mocker_aliases(name: str, pytestconfig: Any) -> None:
-    from pytest_mock.plugin import _get_mock_module
+    from pytest_mock._util import get_mock_module
 
-    mock_module = _get_mock_module(pytestconfig)
+    mock_module = get_mock_module(pytestconfig)
 
     mocker = MockerFixture(pytestconfig)
     assert getattr(mocker, name) is getattr(mock_module, name)
@@ -268,6 +268,19 @@ def bar(self, arg):
         assert str(spy.spy_exception) == "Error with {}".format(v)
 
 
+def test_instance_method_spy_autospec_true(mocker: MockerFixture) -> None:
+    class Foo:
+        def bar(self, arg):
+            return arg * 2
+
+    foo = Foo()
+    spy = mocker.spy(foo, "bar")
+    with pytest.raises(
+        AttributeError, match="'function' object has no attribute 'fake_assert_method'"
+    ):
+        spy.fake_assert_method(arg=5)
+
+
 def test_spy_reset(mocker: MockerFixture) -> None:
     class Foo(object):
         def bar(self, x):
@@ -342,6 +355,17 @@ def bar(cls, arg):
     assert spy.spy_return == 20
 
 
+@skip_pypy
+def test_class_method_spy_autospec_false(mocker: MockerFixture) -> None:
+    class Foo:
+        @classmethod
+        def bar(cls, arg):
+            return arg * 2
+
+    spy = mocker.spy(Foo, "bar")
+    spy.fake_assert_method()
+
+
 @skip_pypy
 def test_class_method_subclass_spy(mocker: MockerFixture) -> None:
     class Base: