Legally Blond(e)

"...as if she were playing the role, as a boyfriend once accused her, of the dumb blonde, although she was neither blond nor dumb."

I read across this sentence in "The Lost Painting" last night, and in the interest of time and space, I cut out the first half of the line. Amazingly, the author used five more commas and a dash in the sentence. My internal alarm clock goes off any time I reach the four-comma mark in a single line, and I can't imagine using eight commas and a dash.

But that was pushed aside by the uses of "blonde" and "blond." My memory wasn't working very well following the spring ahead in time, but I thought the second instance should have also used the "e" at the end of word. I made mental note to check today, and here's what I found:

Bartleby: "Blonde is the usual adjective and noun applied to females, blond to males, although the noun blond is occasionally applied to women too."

Englishplus.com: "The words blond and blonde come from the French and follow somewhat the French pattern. Blond (without the e) is used to describe males, mixed gender, or uncertain gender. Blonde refers to women or female gender."

Jonathan Harr could have used either version of blond(e) in either case and been okay, but I believe he chose well. He obviously opted for the sexist "blonde" in the first case and followed up with the neutral, non-sexist "blond." Makes sense to me.