STOCKHOLM (AP) — Outrage and photos of blouses sprouted Friday across Swedish social media in support of the ousted female leader of the prestigious academy that awards the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Many in gender-neutral Sweden are upset that two highly respected women are being forced out of top positions, effectively paying the price for the alleged sexual misconduct of a man, Jean-Claude Arnault, a major cultural figure in Sweden.

The departures came after a week of turmoil that has shredded the reputation of one of Sweden’s most famous cultural institutions and prompted both the Swedish king and the Stockholm-based Nobel Foundation to demand that the group get its act together before it tarnishes the reputation of the Nobel prizes.
“Feminist battles happen every day,” wrote Swedish Culture Minister Alice Bah Kuhnke, who posted a picture of herself Friday in a white high-necked blouse with a knot like those worn by the official, Sara Danius.
Other Swedish women also posted blouse pictures as anger grew over Danius’ departure, including Social Affairs Minister Annika Strandhall, actress Helena Bergstrom and fashion designer Camilla Thulin.
Danius, a 56-year-old literature professor, resigned from the Swedish Academy on Thursday night after a contentious three-hour meeting. Shortly afterward, the academy announced that another female member, poet and writer Katarina Frostenson, was “leaving.”
Members of the secretive academy are appointed for life and resignations are extremely rare.
Frostenson is Arnault’s wife, prompting some in Sweden to note that it is sexist to punish a wife for her husband’s alleged abuses.
In a statement to Sweden’s TT news agency, Danius said she had agreed to become the leader of the Swedish Academy “because I perceived a support for the ambition to cautiously but purposefully modernize the academy.”
“Caring for an inheritance must not mean arrogance and distance to society,” added Danius, who joined the academy in 2013.
“Ethics must be in the highest seat … crimes and cheating must be reported to the law enforcement authority,” she said. “The academy should be a force that clearly acts against untimely power relations or women’s degradation.”
The prestigious academy has been in turmoil after the resignations last week of three men — Klas Ostergren, Kjell Espmark and Peter Englund — who quit after the 18-member academy voted not to remove Frostenson.