# Un-Straightening Generative AI: How Queer Artists Surface and Challenge the Normativity of Generative AI Models

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.09805 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.09805/

## Key facts

- Cited by 6 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 24 of its 123 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 12 Mar 2025.

## Builds on (most cited first, 24 of 24)

- [XSTest: A Test Suite for Identifying Exaggerated Safety Behaviours in Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.01263/) (2023)
- [Documenting Large Webtext Corpora: A Case Study on the Colossal Clean Crawled Corpus](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2104.08758/) (2021)
- [Red-Teaming the Stable Diffusion Safety Filter](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2210.04610/) (2022)
- [Easily Accessible Text-to-Image Generation Amplifies Demographic Stereotypes at Large Scale](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2211.03759/) (2022)
- [Red-Teaming for Generative AI: Silver Bullet or Security Theater?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.15897/) (2024)
- [Nightshade: Prompt-Specific Poisoning Attacks on Text-to-Image Generative Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.13828/) (2023)
- [AesExpert: Towards Multi-modality Foundation Model for Image Aesthetics Perception](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.09624/) (2024)
- [Everyday algorithm auditing: Understanding the power of everyday users in surfacing harmful algorithmic behaviors](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2105.02980/) (2021)
- [Queer In AI: A Case Study in Community-Led Participatory AI](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.16972/) (2023)
- [COBRA Frames: Contextual Reasoning about Effects and Harms of Offensive Statements](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.01985/) (2023)
- ['Person' == Light-skinned, Western Man, and Sexualization of Women of Color: Stereotypes in Stable Diffusion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.19981/) (2023)
- [A Robot Walks into a Bar: Can Language Models Serve as Creativity Support Tools for Comedy? An Evaluation of LLMs' Humour Alignment with Comedians](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.20956/) (2024)
- [Stereotypes and Smut: The (Mis)representation of Non-cisgender Identities by Text-to-Image Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.17072/) (2023)
- [Data Leverage: A Framework for Empowering the Public in its Relationship with Technology Companies](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2012.09995/) (2020)
- [Disentangling Perceptions of Offensiveness: Cultural and Moral Correlates](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.06861/) (2023)
- [The Prompt Artists](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.12253/) (2023)
- [Copyright Protection and Accountability of Generative AI:Attack, Watermarking and Attribution](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.09272/) (2023)
- [Evaluating the Experience of LGBTQ+ People Using Large Language Model Based Chatbots for Mental Health Support](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.09260/) (2024)
- [AI Art is Theft: Labour, Extraction, and Exploitation, Or, On the Dangers of Stochastic Pollocks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.06178/) (2024)
- [PodReels: Human-AI Co-Creation of Video Podcast Teasers](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.05867/) (2023)
- [Seeing Seeds Beyond Weeds: Green Teaming Generative AI for Beneficial Uses](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.03097/) (2023)
- [Machine Learning Processes as Sources of Ambiguity: Insights from AI Art](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.09374/) (2024)
- [Cruising Queer HCI on the DL: A Literature Review of LGBTQ+ People in HCI](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.07864/) (2024)
- ["Facebook Promotes More Harassment": Social Media Ecosystem, Skill and Marginalized Hijra Identity in Bangladesh](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2102.02853/) (2021)

## Built on by (most cited first, 6 of 6)

- [POET: Supporting Prompting Creativity and Personalization with Automated Expansion of Text-to-Image Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.13392/) (2025)
- ["Unlimited Realm of Exploration and Experimentation": Methods and Motivations of AI-Generated Sexual Content Creators](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2601.21028/) (2026)
- [Reflect: Transparent Principle-Guided Reasoning for Constitutional Alignment at Scale](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2601.18730/) (2026)
- [The Algorithmic Gaze of Image Quality Assessment: An Audit and Trace Ethnography of the LAION-Aesthetics Predictor](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2601.09896/) (2026)
- [How Professional Visual Artists are Negotiating Generative AI in the Workplace](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.04537/) (2026)
- [Sexualised synthetic personas encode and amplify gendered power asymmetries through voice](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.21366/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Queer people are often discussed as targets of bias, harm, or discrimination in research on generative AI. However, the specific ways that queer people engage with generative AI, and thus possible uses that support queer people, have yet to be explored. We conducted a workshop study with 13 queer artists, during which we gave participants access to GPT-4 and DALL-E 3 and facilitated group sensemaking activities. We found our participants struggled to use these models due to various normative values embedded in their designs, such as hyper-positivity and anti-sexuality. We describe various strategies our participants developed to overcome these models' limitations and how, nevertheless, our participants found value in these highly-normative technologies. Drawing on queer feminist theory, we discuss implications for the conceptualization of "state-of-the-art" models and consider how FAccT researchers might support queer alternatives.