MOTERIS Protecting the Civic Space of Women and Girls

'''MOTERIS Protecting the Civic Space of Women and Girls''' is a transnational [[anti-gender]] and [[transphobia|anti-transgender]] network founded by the [[Swedish Women's Lobby]] (SWL). Scholars situate SWL within the anti-gender landscape in [[Sweden]],<ref name=Karlberg/> and according to Mathias Wåg, a Swedish [[journalist]] who covers the [[far right]], SWL plays a major role in transnational anti-trans organizing.<ref name=Wåg/> MOTERIS' stated purpose is to campaign for "[[TERF#Dog whistles TERFs use: "Sex-based rights", "adult human female" and "what is a woman?"|sex-based rights]]," a [[pseudolaw|pseudolegal]] concept and [[dogwhistle]] used in [[TERF]] [[rhetoric]] to oppose [[LGBT rights|transgender rights]]. In November 2025, MOTERIS published its own TERF manifesto, that appeared to be largely AI-written, and that claimed that "women’s existence as a [[TERF#Dog whistles TERFs use: "Sex-based rights", "adult human female" and "what is a woman?"|sex-based]] political class" and "[[TERF#Dog whistles TERFs use: "Sex-based rights", "adult human female" and "what is a woman?"|material reality]]" are being denied by "pseudo-progressive currents." The manifesto was notable for its mimicry of human rights and civic language and use of [[Dogwhistle|dogwhistles]] to push TERF ideology.<ref name=MOTERISDecl/> MOTERIS is one of two transnational anti-gender networks created by the Swedish Women's Lobby in 2025, alongside the [[far-right]]<ref name=Crimaldi>{{cite news |last1=Crimaldi |first1=Elena |title=The fracturing of European feminism: How TERF ideology threatens decades of progress |url=https://feministeerium.ee/en/the-fracturing-of-european-feminism-how-terf-ideology-threatens-decades-of-progress/ |date=2 December 2025 |work=Feministeerium|quote=Sweden, previously highlighted as a pioneer of feminist and LGBTIQ rights policies, has seen the rise of TERF-aligned groups. The Swedish Women’s Lobby (SWL), established in 1997 as an umbrella organisation uniting 57 associations representing over 130,000 women and girls, now actively opposes the ‘pro-gender movement’. The SWL, which participated in the 2010 Krafttag mot våldtäkter campaign, this year launched the Women’s Platform for Action International, a far-right, anti-transgender association promoting “sex-based rights”.|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20251203093202/https://feministeerium.ee/en/the-fracturing-of-european-feminism-how-terf-ideology-threatens-decades-of-progress/|archivedate=2025-12-03}}</ref> network [[Women's Platform for Action International]] (WoPAI), whose stated mission is to fight what they call the "[[queer agenda]]", "non-legal and not agreed upon by the international community concepts of '[[gender identity]]'" and a supposed "pro-gender movement" in academia and NGOs.<ref name=wopai/> Both WoPAI and MOTERIS unite some of the world's main anti-trans and anti-gender groups, including [[SPLC]]-designated hate groups and far-right organizations such as [[Women's Declaration International]] (WDI), an organization that openly supports [[Donald Trump]]. WoPAI's activities and communications to date offer an instructive glimpse into its [[worldview]], including lectures by its board members such as "Did [[Freemasons|Freemasonry]] have a role in the roots of the trans movement?"<ref name=WDIFeministLegalClinic/>

MOTERIS, whose very name is [[Orwellian]], operates as a [[reactionary]] actor within the wider anti-gender movement, using [[TERF#Why TERF ideology is not feminism|pseudofeminist]], pseudolegal and [[pseudoscience|pseudoscientific]] rhetoric to undermine gender equality, trans rights, and feminist scholarship. The group's rhetoric is intentionally deceptive, using the appearance of civic and [[human rights]] discourse to mask anti-trans hostility. The network emerged within the context of intensifying anti-gender mobilization and was formed in direct response to growing public and scholarly criticism of such campaigns, including research that identified the [[Swedish Women's Lobby]] itself and other "gender-critical" actors as central to Sweden's participation in the transnational anti-gender backlash. A primary aim of the initiative appears to be attacking and discrediting research on anti-gender campaigns and gender studies scholarship more broadly, portraying analysis and criticism of anti-gender movements as an attack on "women's civic space" and "[[Freedom of speech|free speech]]." These efforts constitute a form of epistemic violence, targeting feminist and [[queer]] scholarship and seeking to delegitimize gender studies as a field. This reflects a broader and increasingly studied pattern within anti-gender mobilizations, where reactionary and [[populist]] groups co-opt human rights and civic discourse to vilify trans people and undermine feminist and queer scholarship. Similar appeals to "[[free speech]]" have long been a hallmark of {{wpl|Right-wing populism|right-wing populist movements|,}} which use the rhetoric of "open debate" to normalize [[bigotry]], deflect accountability, and present themselves as victims of so-called "[[cancel culture]]" or "[[ideological]] [[censorship]]". The ''Report on violence and pathways to violence in anti-gender campaigns'', published by the European Commission, discussed several of SWL's member organizations as part of an anti-gender landscape in Sweden, noting that Sweden has seen "a gradual rise in anti-gender discourses between 2015 and 2023," and that "self-described 'gender-critical feminists'" such as SWL's member organizations WDI and Women's Rights Watch challenge feminist expertise and engage in attacks on gender studies and scholars.<ref name=ReportViolence/> MOTERIS represents the latest development in this trend, consolidating Sweden's participation in the transnational anti-gender backlash through coordinated campaigns against trans rights and feminist scholarship.

MOTERIS is also notable for how it borrows Eastern European cultural symbols (e.g., "Moteris," Lithuanian for "woman"), perhaps to evoke "traditional values" and claim authenticity, echoing similar patterns in [[Hungary]], [[Poland]], and [[Russia]]. The network's [[propaganda]] uses [[Think of the children|children as visual props]] to reinforce anti-trans dogwhistles such as "[[TERF#Dog whistles TERFs use: "Sex-based rights", "adult human female" and "what is a woman?"|sex-based rights]]" and "[[TERF#Dog whistles TERFs use: "Sex-based rights", "adult human female" and "what is a woman?"|talking about what a woman is]],"<ref name=insta/> an exploitative tactic common in anti-gender and far-right movements.

==Background==
===The anti-trans radicalization of the Swedish Women's Lobby===
{{main|Swedish Women's Lobby}}
{{main|Women's Platform for Action International}}

By the late 2010s, feminists and gender studies scholars in Sweden had begun to raise alarm over the [[Swedish Women's Lobby]]'s (SWL) shift toward trans-exclusionary ideology.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Ortiz |first1=Joel Mauricio Isabel |title=Hur ska vi förstå transfobin? |url=https://www.ottar.se/hur-ska-vi-f-rst-transfobin/ |work=Ottar |date=9 June 2019}}</ref> In 2018, thirteen Swedish gender studies scholars criticized the organization's trans-hostile stance, its promotion of misinformation about gender recognition reforms, its reliance on outdated and [[Gender binary|binary understandings of gender]], and its dismissal of trans people's rights and lived realities. They called on the organization to adopt a more informed and solidaristic approach grounded in up-to-date research and trans-inclusive [[feminism]].<ref name=Schmitt>Schmitt, Irina; Bremer, Signe; Nord, Iwo; Holmqvist, Sam; Alm, Erika; Linander, Ida; Wurm, Matilda; Lundberg, Tove; Lindqvist, Anna; Wagner, Anthony; Bäck, Emma; Olovsdotter Lööv, Anna; Rydström, Jens (9 June 2018). "[https://web.archive.org/web/20250601162545/https://feministisktperspektiv.se/2018/06/09/vi-kan-battre-sa-kvinnolobbyn/ Vi kan bättre än så, Kvinnolobbyn!]". ''Feministiskt Perspektiv''.</ref> In the years that followed, SWL underwent a spiraling radicalization, culminating with its creation of [[Women's Platform for Action International]] (WoPAI), whose stated purpose is to fight what it calls the "queer agenda", "non-legal and not agreed upon by the international community concepts of 'gender identity'" and a supposed "pro-gender movement" in academia and NGOs.<ref name=wopai>Archived versions of WoPAI's mission statement "Why Wopai is needed", explaining its goal to fight "the queer agenda," a "pro-gender movement" in academia and NGOs, and "non-legal and not agreed upon by the international community concepts of 'gender identity'": [https://web.archive.org/web/20250219090601/https://www.womensplatformforaction.org/why-wopai-is-needed/ Internet Archive], [https://archive.ph/qqxVL Archive.ph], [https://archive.is/qqxVL Archive.is]</ref> WoPAI board member Anna Kerr presented her lecture "Did [[Freemasons|Freemasonry]] have a role in the roots of the trans movement?" shortly after.<ref name=WDIFeministLegalClinic>Anna Kerr (board member, Women's Platform for Action International): "[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foi7fFKx-kI Did Freemasonry have a role in the roots of the trans movement?]." Published by [[Women's Declaration International]] (WDI). ([https://archive.ph/0XRY9 Archived version of description])</ref> In a joint statement, SWL and WoPAI opposed the inclusion of [[trans women]]—whom they referred to as "males who do not wish to be treated in law and practice as men"—in analyses of violence against women.<ref name=JointStatement>{{cite web |title=Joint Statement in Support of Reem Alsalem’s Renewed Mandate |url=https://www.womensplatformforaction.org/joint-statement-in-support-of-reem-alsalems-renewed-mandate/ |publisher= Women's Platform for Action International |date=8 July 2025|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250708134746/https://www.womensplatformforaction.org/joint-statement-in-support-of-reem-alsalems-renewed-mandate/|archive-date=8 July 2025}}</ref>

{{cquote|A reminder that, the world over, [[Transgender ideology|trans ideology]] has been a pernicious threat to women's safety and [[freedom]]. No woman should have to flee her home because she [[TERF#Dog whistles TERFs use: "Sex-based rights", "adult human female" and "what is a woman?"|knows what a man is]]!|||An official statement of [[Women's Platform for Action International]]<ref name=WoPAIA2025>Women's Platform for Action International (2025): [https://x.com/WomensActionInt/status/1963150786193412532 "A reminder that, the world over, trans ideology has been a pernicious threat to women's safety and freedom. No woman should have to flee her home because she knows what a man is!"] ([https://archive.ph/cYtKa Archive.ph]; [https://bsky.app/profile/phindus.bsky.social/post/3lxwzrfoe2c2f Screenshot])</ref>}}

===Further academic and civil society responses===
SWL's increasing radicalization did not go unnoticed among Swedish civil society, researchers and commentators. In 2019, SWL was publicly condemned for its transphobic views by the {{wpl|National Council of Swedish Children and Youth Organisations}}, a major civil society body representing the majority of the country's children's and youth groups.<ref name=lsu>{{Cite web|url=https://lsu.se/nyhet/oppet-brev-till-sveriges-kvinnolobby/|title=Öppet brev till Sveriges Kvinnolobby|first=Joakim|last=Lindgren|date=8 April 2019|publisher=National Council of Swedish Children and Youth Organisations}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://lsu.se/nyhet/fragor-om-vart-oppna-brev-till-sveriges-kvinnolobby/|title=Förtydliganden om vårt öppna brev till Sveriges Kvinnolobby|first=Emelie|last=Nilsson|date=13 April 2019|publisher=National Council of Swedish Children and Youth Organisations}}</ref> In 2020, gender studies scholars Alm and Engebretsen observed SWL's promotion of "gender-critical" arguments, situating this within a wider pattern and noting that "a key issue in the current political and scholarly landscape is the growing convergence, and sometimes conscious alliances, between 'gender-critical' feminists (sometimes known as TERFs – Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminists), religious and social conservatives, as well as right-wing politics and even [[Neo-Nazism|neo-Nazi]] and [[Fascist|fascist]] movements."<ref>{{cite journal
 |last1=Alm
 |first1=E.
 |last2=Engebretsen
 |first2=E. L.
 |title=Gender Self-identification
 |journal=Lambda Nordica
 |volume=25
 |issue=1
 |pages=48–56
 |year=2020
 |doi=10.34041/ln.v25.613
 |url=https://doi.org/10.34041/ln.v25.613
}}</ref> In 2020, the Swedish magazine ''Ottar'' published an exposé on what it described as an "unholy alliance" of [[Fundamentalist Christianity|right-wing Christians]] and [[radical feminists]] working to undermine trans rights. The article reported that in 2018, the Swedish Women's Lobby invited the anti-trans group Genid to an internal training session, and it identified 2020 as the point when organized anti-trans mobilization gained momentum in Sweden.<ref>{{cite news |title=Antitrans-allians |url=https://www.ottar.se/antitrans-allians/ |date=2020-06-11 |work=Ottar}}</ref>

In a talk to [[Women's Declaration International]] (WDI) in 2020, WDI's Swedish country contact Fanny Knyphausen said WDI and the Swedish Women's Lobby were the main organizations opposing gender self-determination in Sweden, and that "the Swedish Women's Lobby had a really big loss of organizations" that left the organization as a result of its anti-trans policies.<ref>{{cite web |title=Who opposes gender identity politics in Mexico, Argentina, Spain, Germany, Sweden? |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SblCQ605Jw|publisher=Women's Declaration International |date=14 July 2020}}</ref> Amid growing criticism of SWL for its anti-trans stance, 943 priests and other employees of the {{wpl|Church of Sweden}} in 2021 condemned "trans-exclusionary feminism [that] uses rhetoric we recognize from radical right-wing Christian groups and right-wing populists." They added: "We mourn a rights movement that punches down. You, me, we, all of us, need a broad, solidarity-based feminism that fights restrictive gender norms."<ref>{{cite web
 |author=943 Church of Sweden employees
 |title=Personligt brev till dig som är trans
 |trans-title=A personal letter to you who are transgender
 |url=https://www.svenskakyrkan.se/vasterasstift/personligt-brev-till-dig-som-ar-trans
 |publisher=Church of Sweden
 |date=2021
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210519133707/https://www.svenskakyrkan.se/vasterasstift/personligt-brev-till-dig-som-ar-trans
 |archive-date=2021-05-19
}}</ref> Sofia Magnusson and Emmeli Nybom argued that the trans-exclusionary position adopted by SWL reflects a broader ideological shift within segments of Swedish feminism, a shift they linked to the influence of international anti-trans campaigns and rhetoric promoted by right-wing actors and high-profile anti-trans activists such as [[J.K. Rowling]].<ref>[https://www.dagensarena.se/opinion/vi-oroas-over-s-kvinnors-transexkluderande-feminism/ Vi oroas över S-kvinnors transexkluderande feminism]</ref>

Jon Voss argued in Swedish [[LGBT+]] magazine ''QX'' in 2023 that "the [[Sweden Democrats]] and the Swedish Women's Lobby sound frighteningly similar to [[Vladimir Putin|Putin]], [[Viktor Orbán|Orbán]], [[Recep Tayyip Erdoğan|Erdoğan]], Trump, and [[Ron DeSantis|DeSantis]] in their ways of arguing by belittling transgender people."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Voss |first1=Jon |title=Upprörande smutskastning av transpersoner |url=https://www.qx.se/samhalle/opinion/245698/qx-ledarstick-upprorande-smutskastning-av-transpersoner/ |date=2023-04-06 |work=QX}}</ref> {{wpl|Daniel Poohl||,}} publisher of Swedish anti-[[racist]] magazine {{wpl|Expo (magazine)|''Expo''|,}} pointed out that "radical feminists, right-wing Christians, [[conspiracy theorists]], and far-right extremists have found each other in an unholy alliance that has made transgender people the new target of the far right's hatred."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Poohl |first1=Daniel|title=Transpersoner – extremhögerns nya hatobjekt |url=https://expo.se/analys/analys-transpersoner-extremhogerns-nya-hatobjekt/ |work=Expo}}</ref> Mathias Wåg, a Swedish journalist who covers the [[far right]], said in 2025 that "it is important to highlight the role the Swedish Women's Lobby plays in international anti-trans organizing."<ref name=Wåg>Mathias Wåg (2025): [https://bsky.app/profile/guldfiske.bsky.social/post/3m22kfvrqqk2v Viktigt lyfta fram Sveriges kvinnoorganisationers (SKO) roll för den internationella antitransorganiseringen]</ref>

In 2025, gender studies scholars Karlberg, Korolczuk, and Sältenberg situated SWL's trajectory within the broader framework of [[anti-gender]] politics, interpreting it as part of an "insidious {{wpl|Democratic backsliding|de-democratization}}" that erodes [[liberal]] [[democracy]] by marginalizing vulnerable groups.<ref name=Karlberg>{{cite journal
 |last1=Karlberg
 |first1=E.
 |last2=Korolczuk
 |first2=E.
 |last3=Sältenberg
 |first3=H.
 |title=Insidious de-democratization: Conceptualizing anti-gender politics in Sweden
 |journal=Journal of Gender Studies
 |volume=34
 |issue=1
 |year=2025
 |doi=10.1080/09589236.2024.2446345
 |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/09589236.2024.2446345
}}</ref> The ''Report on violence and pathways to violence in anti-gender campaigns'', published by the European Commission, discussed several of SWL's member organizations as part of an [[anti-gender]] landscape in Sweden, noting that Sweden has seen "a gradual rise in anti-gender discourses between 2015 and 2023," and that also "self-described 'gender-critical feminists'" such as SWL's member organizations WDI and Women's Rights Watch challenge feminist expertise and engage in attacks on gender studies and scholars.<ref name=ReportViolence>{{cite web |title=Report on violence and pathways to violence in anti-gender campaigns |url=https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101061256/results |publisher=European Commission |date=2024}}</ref>

==MOTERIS as an anti-gender network==

The stated purpose of MOTERIS is to campaign for "[[TERF#Dog whistles TERFs use: "Sex-based rights", "adult human female" and "what is a woman?"|sex-based rights]]," i.e. against transgender rights.<ref name=swl-MOTERIS>[https://archive.ph/TLjub SWL on MOTERIS]</ref><ref name=ENW>[[European Network of Migrant Women]]: [https://www.migrantwomennetwork.org/2025/08/12/moteris-protectiong-the-civic-space-of-women-and-girls/ MOTERIS Protecting the Civic Space of Women and Girls]</ref><ref name=FLC>Feminist Legal Clinic: [https://feministlegal.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Moteris-Launch-PR-August-11-Moteris-Launch-PR-August-11.pdf MOTERIS Protecting the Civic Space of Women and Girls]</ref> In November 2025, MOTERIS published its own TERF manifesto, that appeared to be largely AI-written, and that claimed that "women’s existence as a [[TERF#Dog whistles TERFs use: "Sex-based rights", "adult human female" and "what is a woman?"|sex-based]] political class" and "[[TERF#Dog whistles TERFs use: "Sex-based rights", "adult human female" and "what is a woman?"|material reality]] are being denied by "pseudo-progressive currents." The manifesto was notable for its mimicry of human rights and civic language and use of [[Dogwhistle|dogwhistles]] to push TERF ideology.<ref name=MOTERISDecl>{{cite web |title=MOTERIS: When the Personal Meets the Political |url=https://www.migrantwomennetwork.org/2025/11/14/moteris-when-the-personal-meets-the-political/ |publisher=MOTERIS |access-date=30 November 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20251130045154/https://www.migrantwomennetwork.org/2025/11/14/moteris-when-the-personal-meets-the-political/ |archive-date=2025-11-30}}</ref> It has the same address as both SWL and WoPAI, and the same leadership and members. According to press releases published on the websites of both SWL and anti-trans groups "Feminist Legal Clinic" (associated with [[Women's Declaration International|WDI]]) and "[[European Network of Migrant Women]]" (an anti-trans organization posing as a "migrants' rights" organization), the organization is led by the Swedish Women's Lobby.<ref name=swl-MOTERIS/><ref name=ENW/><ref name=FLC/>

A primary aim of the initiative appears to be attacking and discrediting research on anti-gender campaigns and gender studies scholarship more broadly, portraying criticism of anti-gender movements as an assault on "women's civic space" and "[[Freedom of speech|free speech]]." This reflects a broader pattern within anti-gender mobilizations, where reactionary and populist groups co-opt human rights and civic discourse to target feminist and queer expertise. Across Europe and beyond, scholars of populism and anti-gender politics have noted how such actors weaponize "free speech" discourse, positioning themselves as victims of "censorship" or "ideological persecution", in order to legitimize [[hate speech]], undermine academic freedom, and present regressive agendas as expressions of democratic dissent. In this way, "free speech" becomes a rhetorical shield for campaigns that seek to roll back gender equality, LGBTQ+ rights, and pluralist norms. These activities constitute a form of epistemic violence, aimed at eroding the legitimacy of feminist and queer scholarship and policing the boundaries of acceptable knowledge about gender. The leadership behind MOTERIS, WoPAI, and the Swedish Women's Lobby has, under their other organizational banners, recently pushed claims that opposition to anti-gender activism is driven by [[George Soros]], major foundations, or other so-called "[[globalist]]" forces, using this to paint critics as part of an "[[elite]]"-run agenda, and WoPAI even claims trans people were invented by the [[Freemason|Freemasons]].<ref name=WDIFeministLegalClinic/>

In an Instagram post, MOTERIS promoted the idea of "[[TERF#Dog whistles TERFs use: "Sex-based rights", "adult human female" and "what is a woman?"|sex-based rights]]," while the secretary-general of SWL referred to the anti-trans [[dogwhistle]] of "[[TERF#Dog whistles TERFs use: "Sex-based rights", "adult human female" and "what is a woman?"|talking about what a woman is]]," holding a child on her lap to visually link those dogwhistles to motherhood, a trope recurrent in anti-gender activism and other reactionary and far-right movements that instrumentalize children to advance exclusionary politics.<ref name=insta>[https://www.instagram.com/reel/DP6NwSJCHAy/ MOTERIS Instagram post]</ref>

The organization's name, Moteris, a Lithuanian word for "woman," invokes an explicitly biological essentialist definition of womanhood and draws on Eastern European cultural signifiers that have become prominent within contemporary anti-gender and anti-LGBTQ+ mobilizations. The choice of name thus aligns the group with both the exclusionary "[[TERF#Dog whistles TERFs use: "Sex-based rights", "adult human female" and "what is a woman?"|sex-based]]" rhetoric characteristic of trans-exclusionary discourse and the symbolic repertoire of the broader transnational anti-gender movement, in which Eastern European actors have played an increasingly visible role.

==Conclusion==

MOTERIS and WoPAI both represent an attempt to appropriate feminism to advance what are fundamentally anti-trans and anti-gender agendas. They illustrate a mode of anti-gender politics identified by scholars like Roman Kuhar, David Paternotte, and Elżbieta Korolczuk, in which reactionary actors mimic feminist and human rights discourses while pursuing reactionary agendas. The deployment of rhetoric of "free speech" and "civic space" to portray academic and NGO criticism as censorship is a familiar tactic from {{wpl|Right-wing populism|right-wing populist}} strategies, used to intimidate researchers, delegitimize feminist expertise, and silence trans and queer voices within public debate. This is in line with the findings of the ''Report on violence and pathways to violence in anti-gender campaigns'', which identified several of SWL's member organizations as part of a growing anti-gender landscape in Sweden and noted that such "self-described 'gender-critical feminists'" challenge feminist expertise and engage in attacks on gender studies and scholars.<ref name=ReportViolence/>

==Affiliated organizations==
MOTERIS Protecting the Civic Space of Women and Girls consists of "[[gender-critical]]" and [[anti-gender]] organizations such as
*[[Swedish Women's Lobby]]
*[[Women's Declaration International]], an [[SPLC]]-designated hate group
*[[European Network of Migrant Women]], an anti-trans group posing as a "migrants rights" organization

==References==
{{reflist|2|80%}}

[[Category:Pseudoscience promoting organizations]]
[[Category:Hate groups]]
[[Category:Sweden]]
[[Category:TERFs]]
[[Category:Transphobia]]

Categories: Pseudoscience promoting organizations, Hate groups, Sweden, TERFs, Transphobia