damn, maybe this is controversial of me but i don’t actually interpret ingrid’s reaction to dorothea in their supports as her being homophobic ( which, to my knowledge, is the only source of ingrid’s “ homophobia ” that people cite ).
i did initially, and i can see where you’d get that at first glance, but if you look deeper, it’s... not really?
i portray her as having some self-hatred about being gay because of glenn’s importance to her and what they were meant to be together ( husband and wife ), but not outright homophobic all together. additionally, i interpret ingrid as not only being a lesbian, but nonbinary. in a lot of her supports, she is not comfortable with traditional femininity, and even in the exploration dialogue in the chapter of the dance, ingrid expresses that she’s hiding from mercedes for pinning her down and putting makeup on her.
let me start by saying i’m not trying to paint dorothea as a bad guy here. i love her as much as the next person! but if you really look at the text of the dorogrid supports, ingrid is clearly uncomfortable with the idea of ‘ dressing up ’ ( which i’m sure in ingrid’s mind means wearing a dress and putting on makeup, i don’t even know if she thinks she has the option of dressing masculinely in a suit or tie or anything ), which dorothea pushes on her several times ( and even shuns her for not having experimented with dressing up in the past ).
Dorothea: If you don't dress for the occasion, no one will take you seriously. But don't worry about a thing. I'll happily work my magic on you. When it's time, I'll meet you in your room. We'll make you the most beautiful woman in the theater.
Ingrid: Oh, goodness. OK...
does that sound like the response of someone who’s comfortable with being, or even wants to be ‘ the most beautiful woman in the theater ’ ?
Dorothea: My real point is that you're quite lovely even before getting all fixed up. Absolutely bewitching, in fact. So when I'm finished with you, well... Someone looking at you could be forgiven for...wanting to pounce.
Ingrid: Could they be? I don't know that I'd forgive them.
yeah, honestly i can see ingrid maybe exploring femininity if she was given the freedom to on her own, without the idea of needing to dress up for someone with it. she expresses excitement at the thought of just exploring on her own, without the desire to impress someone. dorothea then immediately says that you dress for the occasion to impress someone, which irritates ingrid. so dorothea has placed dressing up and makeup in a context that ingrid would be doing so to impress someone, directly against her comfort. here’s the thing: ingrid doesn’t want to be hit on by anyone, boy or girl. romance isn’t really her priority given her desires to be a knight. that said, she especially doesn’t want to be hit on in a context in which she is uncomfortable and not herself.
Dorothea: Oh, I know. That's just before I lunge, I'm gonna ask permission.
Ingrid: Permission is not granted–ever! Just back off.
so despite the discomfort that’s accumulated through these two supports, dorothea still persists so far as to suggest she’ll be hitting on ingrid. ingrid feels so disrespected and ignored that she impulsively lashes out. the conflicting feelings of feeling guilt for her sexuality in general as dorothea hits on her combined with this reinforcement that ingrid needs to dress up and wear makeup to be wOmAnLy ( or to look nice at all! ) really puts her off.
so, in summary. dorothea has good intent and thinks she’s doing ingrid a favor! which is kind of her! but in that, she doesn’t listen to ingrid. dorothea 1. doesn’t respect ingrid’s wishes and discomfort and actually just tries to sweet talk her into wearing makeup and 2. proceeds to hit on ingrid immediately following that manipulation. ingrid’s last, harsh line of the support is a culmination of that discomfort into an outburst. was ingrid overreacting in the moment? yeah, sure. she could’ve handled the situation more calmly. i’d love to explore an A support for these two in which they talk it out more deeply. that said, it’s apparent to me that calm wasn’t really going to cut it for getting it into dorothea’s head that ingrid didn’t want to take part in this the way dorothea wanted her to. it’s also like... rejection itself isn’t outright homophobic, either? gay people don’t say yes to every person that asks them out? if ingrid’s not interested, she’s just not interested, likely because of the discomfort that built up spread across these supports. i’m nonbinary myself, and if someone did this to me, even a gorgeous wlw with good intentions, i’d be frustrated as fuck. these tweets sum this post up pretty well.
if you read this, i love you and will kiss you on the mouth.