My demand for 8/3: Scrap that anti-feminist propaganda machine called genAI!
-
My demand for 8/3: Scrap that anti-feminist propaganda machine called genAI! It generates misogynist slop even in the hands of those declaring to want the opposite.
The German ministry for research @bmftr_bund just published a paper depicting female researchers in history who have been distorted to conform to gender norms - even with explicit prompts for smiles and dancing. But even without such prompts genAI reproduces and reinforces female oppression.
Publicly funded.
1/2
@alineblankertz @bmftr_bund What the fuck is this AI religion. Everybody just retreating into a comfortable fake reality, and proud of it??!!
-
My demand for 8/3: Scrap that anti-feminist propaganda machine called genAI! It generates misogynist slop even in the hands of those declaring to want the opposite.
The German ministry for research @bmftr_bund just published a paper depicting female researchers in history who have been distorted to conform to gender norms - even with explicit prompts for smiles and dancing. But even without such prompts genAI reproduces and reinforces female oppression.
Publicly funded.
1/2
@alineblankertz @bmftr_bund
A, the famous "THEXIICKIXTA" ... -
The whole set of images is here: https://www.bmftr.bund.de/SharedDocs/Downloads/DE/2025/begleitheft-versaeumte-bilder.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=3
The professor who prompted the images declared that “surprisingly, there was little resistance” to them:
https://www.gender-blog.de/beitrag/versaeumte-bilder-frauen-wissenschaftCheck out @bildoperationen for more on how AI serves to distort history such that it strengthens an anti-feminist present.
It is just one of many sufficient reasons to resist AI. But still worth saying today:
If we want to fight for a feminist future, AI must not be part of it.
2/2
@alineblankertz @bildoperationen I fail to understand how prompting an AI to generate photorealistic images, and even going so far as to replicate the style of the decade the image supposedly dates from, is aligned with the claim to "break with the usual habits of seeing" and "unconventional ways of visualization" (Source: https://bilderinstitut.de/uber-das-institut)
-
@alineblankertz @bildoperationen I fail to understand how prompting an AI to generate photorealistic images, and even going so far as to replicate the style of the decade the image supposedly dates from, is aligned with the claim to "break with the usual habits of seeing" and "unconventional ways of visualization" (Source: https://bilderinstitut.de/uber-das-institut)
@alineblankertz @bildoperationen Also, I can't help but think how this project would have played out before AI: Your aim is to make the unseen visible? Show that something is missing or wong. Put it 'sous rature', under erasure. Don't gloss it over. Show the wound. But it ain't the 1990s anymore and who still reads Derrida...
-
The whole set of images is here: https://www.bmftr.bund.de/SharedDocs/Downloads/DE/2025/begleitheft-versaeumte-bilder.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=3
The professor who prompted the images declared that “surprisingly, there was little resistance” to them:
https://www.gender-blog.de/beitrag/versaeumte-bilder-frauen-wissenschaftCheck out @bildoperationen for more on how AI serves to distort history such that it strengthens an anti-feminist present.
It is just one of many sufficient reasons to resist AI. But still worth saying today:
If we want to fight for a feminist future, AI must not be part of it.
2/2
@alineblankertz I agree that we must resist the current trajectory of AI under corporate control. But to say AI cannot be part of a feminist future is to abandon the field. A feminist future shouldn't reject powerful tools; it should seize them. It should demand diverse training data, fund women and non-binary people in AI research, and build open-source models that reflect a pluralistic world. The question isn't if AI is part of our future, but whose AI and what future it will help build.
-
@alineblankertz @bmftr_bund What the fuck is this AI religion. Everybody just retreating into a comfortable fake reality, and proud of it??!!
@gimulnautti @alineblankertz @bmftr_bund (ironically) *Amen* to that, comrade!
-
The whole set of images is here: https://www.bmftr.bund.de/SharedDocs/Downloads/DE/2025/begleitheft-versaeumte-bilder.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=3
The professor who prompted the images declared that “surprisingly, there was little resistance” to them:
https://www.gender-blog.de/beitrag/versaeumte-bilder-frauen-wissenschaftCheck out @bildoperationen for more on how AI serves to distort history such that it strengthens an anti-feminist present.
It is just one of many sufficient reasons to resist AI. But still worth saying today:
If we want to fight for a feminist future, AI must not be part of it.
2/2
@alineblankertz @bildoperationen
The point is, they try to heal historical mistakes with fakes. You can't use these artificial images in any serious context, w/o a lengthy explanation - regarding the images, not the structural historical mistake.
So, what's their intention? Doing something modern, techy with AI … and women …
that sounds odd … promotes creating images of women via AI … covers up a historical mistake, to be reminded as a fact - with fakes … anyway, here you go 
-
@alineblankertz @bildoperationen
The point is, they try to heal historical mistakes with fakes. You can't use these artificial images in any serious context, w/o a lengthy explanation - regarding the images, not the structural historical mistake.
So, what's their intention? Doing something modern, techy with AI … and women …
that sounds odd … promotes creating images of women via AI … covers up a historical mistake, to be reminded as a fact - with fakes … anyway, here you go @alineblankertz @bildoperationen
The quality of the images is quite questionable too: Fingers? Backgrounds? Texts?
If you compare the generated images with the prompts, you see that often the images don't follow the instructions: Did they give up, saying "Close enough"? 🥴
-
@alineblankertz @bmftr_bund
A, the famous "THEXIICKIXTA" ... -
@alineblankertz I agree that we must resist the current trajectory of AI under corporate control. But to say AI cannot be part of a feminist future is to abandon the field. A feminist future shouldn't reject powerful tools; it should seize them. It should demand diverse training data, fund women and non-binary people in AI research, and build open-source models that reflect a pluralistic world. The question isn't if AI is part of our future, but whose AI and what future it will help build.
@johnmackay @alineblankertz If the goal is to produce as much bullshit as possible, yes.
But that is not the goal.
-
@alineblankertz I agree that we must resist the current trajectory of AI under corporate control. But to say AI cannot be part of a feminist future is to abandon the field. A feminist future shouldn't reject powerful tools; it should seize them. It should demand diverse training data, fund women and non-binary people in AI research, and build open-source models that reflect a pluralistic world. The question isn't if AI is part of our future, but whose AI and what future it will help build.
@johnmackay @alineblankertz It is a powerful tool for extraction, oppression and homogenisation. There is nothing to abandon but a socio-technological monster.
-
The whole set of images is here: https://www.bmftr.bund.de/SharedDocs/Downloads/DE/2025/begleitheft-versaeumte-bilder.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=3
The professor who prompted the images declared that “surprisingly, there was little resistance” to them:
https://www.gender-blog.de/beitrag/versaeumte-bilder-frauen-wissenschaftCheck out @bildoperationen for more on how AI serves to distort history such that it strengthens an anti-feminist present.
It is just one of many sufficient reasons to resist AI. But still worth saying today:
If we want to fight for a feminist future, AI must not be part of it.
2/2
@alineblankertz @bildoperationen Hang on, wtf is this?? I'm struggling to understand: @bmftr_bund *already had* photos of these women, so what was the motivation for this entire project?
Were these women in these photos not acceptable as they were?
It's giving extreme male gaze vibes, and the absolute ick.
I'm getting flashbacks of street harassment from men shouting things like, "Give us a smile, love, it might never happen."
-
@johnmackay @alineblankertz If the goal is to produce as much bullshit as possible, yes.
But that is not the goal.
@claudius @johnmackay @alineblankertz AI is solving the BS penury problem. Remember, a few years ago, everyone saying: "If only I had more low quality BS, my life would be better"
-
@alineblankertz I agree that we must resist the current trajectory of AI under corporate control. But to say AI cannot be part of a feminist future is to abandon the field. A feminist future shouldn't reject powerful tools; it should seize them. It should demand diverse training data, fund women and non-binary people in AI research, and build open-source models that reflect a pluralistic world. The question isn't if AI is part of our future, but whose AI and what future it will help build.
@johnmackay @alineblankertz bro are you actually mansplaining feminism to a woman on women's day? for real?
-
@johnmackay @alineblankertz bro are you actually mansplaining feminism to a woman on women's day? for real?
@imbl @alineblankertz This is a direct quote from you: "actually feminism is about gender equality which means men have to get at least as much of a say about feminism as women do!"
-
@imbl @alineblankertz This is a direct quote from you: "actually feminism is about gender equality which means men have to get at least as much of a say about feminism as women do!"
@johnmackay @alineblankertz that was me being sarcastic to satirize you, moid
-
My demand for 8/3: Scrap that anti-feminist propaganda machine called genAI! It generates misogynist slop even in the hands of those declaring to want the opposite.
The German ministry for research @bmftr_bund just published a paper depicting female researchers in history who have been distorted to conform to gender norms - even with explicit prompts for smiles and dancing. But even without such prompts genAI reproduces and reinforces female oppression.
Publicly funded.
1/2
@alineblankertz @bmftr_bund that's some f-ing bs
Why the obsession with "woman must smile" shit -
@alineblankertz I agree that we must resist the current trajectory of AI under corporate control. But to say AI cannot be part of a feminist future is to abandon the field. A feminist future shouldn't reject powerful tools; it should seize them. It should demand diverse training data, fund women and non-binary people in AI research, and build open-source models that reflect a pluralistic world. The question isn't if AI is part of our future, but whose AI and what future it will help build.
@johnmackay you're speaking to the wrong crowd unfortunately, but you're right, just right too early.
-
@johnmackay @alineblankertz that was me being sarcastic to satirize you, moid
@imbl @johnmackay @alineblankertz using moid unironically
-
@imbl @johnmackay @alineblankertz using moid unironically
@budududuroiu @alineblankertz are you more upset about the word moid, or the overt misogyny from a dude who called me hysterical on women's day?
