Nordic Model Now!

{{distinguish|[[Swedish Model Report]]}}
{{Gender}}
'''Nordic Model Now!''' is a [[British]] [[right-wing]] [[TERF|anti-transgender]] [[Astroturf|astroturf]] organization that, despite its name, has nothing to do with either the [[Scandinavia|Nordic countries]] or what is normally called the [[Social democracy|Nordic model]], but deliberately uses Nordic branding to promote [[reactionary]] [[politics]] that often aligns with the [[Christian right]]. This is a form of {{wpl|foreign branding||.}}{{efn|Proponents of the criminalization of [[Prostitution|sex work]] often attempt to hijack the term "Nordic model" that normally describes a social and economic model unrelated to sex work, due to the positive connotations of the term and the Nordic countries more broadly. This strategy functions as a form of foreign branding, ignoring how policies vary across the Nordic countries.}} Its public messaging focuses largely on promoting {{wpl|carceral feminism}} and the [[sex worker-exclusionary radical feminism|hyper-criminalization of sex workers]], but the organization is deeply embedded within the [[TERF]] network, and regularly amplifies TERF voices, organizations and narratives. In this sense it represents another front of the transnational [[anti-gender]] movement. The group is a key node in the [[Transphobia|anti-trans]] [[echo chamber]] on [[Social media platforms|social media]].

==Nordic Model Now! within the anti-gender movement==
Nordic Model Now! often appears alongside organizations known under opaque acronyms such as CAP International or SPACE International. These organizations frame their activism as focused on issues such as sex work or surrogacy, but are nonetheless deeply embedded in the same circles as openly anti-trans extremist groups, notably including the [[Women's Declaration International|WDI movement]]. They share extensive personnel, participate in the same conferences, and collaborate closely with explicitly transphobic organizations. In many cases, it's the same activists, just wearing a different organizational hat. Their leadership and [[rhetoric]] tend to align with the core narratives of the TERF movement, particularly around [[essentialist]] definitions of womanhood and the policing of bodily autonomy, alongside a deep hostility to contemporary [[feminist]] scholarship, {{wpl|gender studies}}, and forms of knowledge that challenge their [[worldview]], revealing a shared ideological foundation cloaked in parallel advocacy. The male anti-trans activist behind TERF website "[[FeministWiki]]" lists Nordic Model Now! as one of the organizations he supports and as aligned with the [[Women's Declaration International|WDI movement]] that the site promotes.<ref>"[https://web.archive.org/web/20250829142825/https://feministwiki.org/ Main Page]". ''FeministWiki''. Archived 29 August 2025</ref>

Nordic Model Now! is prone to [[Conspiracy theory|conspiracy thinking]] and claims that "neoliberalism has controlled the [[media]] and infiltrated academia,"<ref name=nordicmodelnow1/> and that "the British establishment" has been "captured by ‘sex work’ lobbyists."<ref name=nordicmodelnow2/> This [[Anti-intellectualism|hostility to knowledge and expertise]], particularly gender studies, is [[TERF#Hostility to knowledge and expertise|typical of TERF and anti-gender discourse]]. In their rejection of modern gender studies scholarship, Nordic Model Now! instead relies on their own interpretations of 50-year old radical feminist literature as well as pamphlets by modern anti-trans activists such as [[Kajsa Ekis Ekman]].<ref name=nordicmodelnow1>"[https://web.archive.org/web/20250531210026/https://nordicmodelnow.org/2021/06/05/a-brief-history-of-the-sex-work-is-work-movement/ A brief history of the ‘Sex work is work’ movement]", Nordic Model Now!</ref>

As they admit on their website, "Nordic Model Now! is frequently accused […] of being an astroturfed organisation."<ref name=nordicmodelnow2>[https://web.archive.org/web/20250725205658/https://nordicmodelnow.org/2024/01/27/how-the-british-establishment-was-captured-by-sex-work-lobbyists/ How the British establishment was captured by ‘sex work’ lobbyists], Nordic Model Now!</ref> Their main activity appears to be their [[Twitter]] account, that functions as one of the most central nodes in the anti-trans echo chamber on Twitter, often retweeting and being retweeted by anti-trans groups and activists.<ref>[https://www.twitter.com/nordicmodelnow Nordic Model Now!] on Twitter</ref>

==TERF letter accusing receptionists and academics of having "vested interests" in promoting "the sexual exploitation industry"==

Together with other notorious TERF groups including [[European Network of Migrant Women]], Nordic Model Now! has published one of the weirdest and most conspiratorial statements of the TERF movement, that alleges that "taxi drivers, security guards, receptionists"{{sic}} as well as "academics and researchers" have "vested interests" in promoting what it called "the sexual exploitation industry", and that these academics dominate universities and research bodies. It further decried the discourse of academics, media and NGOs (non-governmental organizations) as "[[Mainstream media|mainstream propaganda]]."<ref>[https://nordicmodelnow.org/2025/12/03/open-letter-to-scottish-ministers-and-msps-in-support-of-ash-regans-unbuyable-bill/ TERF letter accusing receptionists and academics of having "vested interests" in promoting "the sexual exploitation industry"], Nordic Model Now!</ref>

==See also==
*[[Women's Declaration International]]
*[[Women's Platform for Action International]]

==Footnotes==
{{notelist}}

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

[[Category:Anti-intellectualism]]
[[Category:Denialist organizations]]
[[Category:Hate groups]]
[[Category:Misnomers]]
[[Category:Pseudoscience promoting organizations]]
[[Category:TERFs]]
[[Category:Transphobia]]

Categories: Anti-intellectualism, Denialist organizations, Hate groups, Misnomers, Pseudoscience promoting organizations, TERFs, Transphobia