Blokes taking lead from damsel in distress (5)

I believe the answer is:

males

'blokes' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)

'taking lead from damsel in distress' is the wordplay.
'taking lead from' means to remove the first letter.
'in distress' indicates an anagram.
'damsel' with its first letter taken away is 'amsel'.
'amsel' is an anagram of 'MALES'.

I've seen this clue in The Independent.

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