ABSTRACT
Chapter 3 investigates issues of family, gender, and sexuality in the Nordic countries. This chapter traces the history of family reforms from the late nineteenth century which led to specific Nordic forms of welfare regimes and official views and policies on gender and sexuality. Building the ‘good’ and ‘right’ kind of family is central to modern nation-state building, since the nation is promoted as the family writ large. The chapter discusses how the stresses of these social and political developments have been expressed in conspiracy theories about, for example, ritual murder and Satanism where children and women are victims. The Nordic countries are known for gender equality, but the chapter analyzes how also misogyny and anti-feminism are displayed in contemporary conspiracy theories.
