Dorothea,
Would you have had the same response to Bean's description of Lois, if you had not known, in advance, that the author was a man?
I found the description of Lois, as the stereotypical attractive woman, tall and blond with a cinched in waist and Bean's feeling of inadequecy in her own appearance when compared to Lois to be insightful, particularly, since Marquise is a man. While Bean realizes that she has some attractive attributes, "...she had better breasts than Lois, and she didn't have all those moles."; she can't seem to feel good about her self in comparison. I don't know a woman who hasn't had a friend like Lois or maybe even been a friend like Lois.
