i think the scene in this ep where lenore makes comments on annabel's body shows how easy it is for people to lean into misogyny (and bigotry in general) if it means theyll fit in with the larger group. thats what lenore seemed to be trying to do with those comments--after all, she's a woman pretending to be a man and being outed as such would likely have devastating consequences considering the time period and her entire situation. to not risk suspicion, she chooses to stoop down to the other men's levels, focusing only on annabel's looks and speaking very crudely about her body. to call out the other men for their words would stand out and i think she was surprised when someone (aka wesley) actually did
she also seems to prefer handling those types of misogynistic comments in a covert way. like the first guy who lost was deflecting his loss onto annabel and insulting her looks and in response lenore says smth along the lines of "it's best you leave before you say smth that makes you look bad for your status", probably to keep up her gentlemanly/nonconfrontational persona that's associated with leo and get the man out the door at the same time. its ironic that she says smth not much better right after though.
however, she definitely doesnt believe anything shes saying. shes playing a role. as leo, she felt social pressure and succumbed to it. especially when that guy said "what kind of man are you" i think he put leo's masculinity on the spot right beside the bombardment of the other guy's questions about annabel's body and even her own thoughts on annabel. not an excuse for lenore's comments at all ofc, only the motivation behind why she responded that way
while i think lenore as we know her now would have spoken against the way the men talked about annabel and refrained from making the comments she did in this chapter, i don't think leo, the role she's playing (with severe consequences if she's found out), would risk being a contrarian.
