French minister under fire for Playboy magazine cover

Marlene Schiappa, the 40-year-old feminist author posed for the magazine's April issue in a white outfit, as reported. Playboy interviewed the French politician about women's and LGBTQ rights, according to the report. Schiappa was plucked from obscurity by President Emmanuel Macron in 2017, is no stranger to controversy and has repeatedly angered the right-wing.

But even the Prime Minister and left-wing critics feel the Minister for Social Economy and Associations made a mistake with her latest stunt: posing for Playboy to accompany a 12-page interview on women's and gay rights, as well as abortion. "Standing up for women's right to do what they want with their bodies: everywhere, all the time," Schiappa tweeted on Saturday, April 1. "Women are free in France. Whether it pisses off the retrogrades and hypocrites or not."

The decision has angered some colleagues in the government, which is battling strikes and increasingly violent demonstrations against plans to raise the retirement age by two years. The sight of Schiappa in designer clothes for glamor magazine was seen by some as sending a bad message, with one person quoted as saying they thought it was an April Fool's prank when they first heard about it.

Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, only the second woman in the position, called Schiappo to tell her it was "not appropriate at all, especially at this time," an aide told  to reports on Saturday. Greens MP and fellow women's rights activist Sandrine Rousseau, an outspoken critic of the centrist government, said: "Where is the respect for the French people?"

"People who will have to work for two more years, who are demonstrating, who are losing days of pay, who are not having time to eat because of inflation?" she told the BFM channel on Saturday. "Women's bodies should be able to be exposed anywhere, I don't have a problem with that, but there is a social context."

Playboy defended the spread, which will appear in its French-language edition. Schiappa was "the most compatible with Playboy" of the government ministers, "because she stands up for women's rights and understood that it was not a magazine for old farts, but could be a tool for the feminist cause," editor Jean-Christophe. Florentin told the news.

"Playboy is not a soft porn magazine, but a 300-page quarterly 'mook' (mix of book and magazine) that is intellectual and trendy," Florentin added, admitting that "there are still a few naked women, but 'not most of the pages.' Another criticism of Schiappa focused on the broader problem of the centrist government's communication strategy.

Macron, who rarely gives interviews to the French press, offered his thoughts on political power and pensions in a lengthy interview published by the children's magazine "Pif, le mag" last week. Schiappa, a regular on French television talk shows, introduced legislation banning bullying and street harassment in 2018 while serving as equality minister.

The mother of two was a prolific author and blogger before her career in politics, writing about the challenges of motherhood, women's health and pregnancy. She also wrote a 2010 book offering sex tips for the overweight, which some critics saw as promoting stereotypes.