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Marlène Schiappa: French minister blasts critics while defending her decision to pose for Playboy cover

Marlène Schiappa appears fully dressed on the cover of the French edition of the magazine

PARIS, FRANCE: As France is embroiled in various protest movements and riots following president, Emmanuel Macron's controversial pension reforms, one of his top government ministers has ardently justified her decision of appearing on the front cover of Playboy's French edition. Marlène Schiappa, 40, a former erotica author, will appear fully dressed on the cover of the French edition of the magazine after she gave a long 12-page interview to the controversial magazine on women's and gay rights.

The minister for the social economy and French associations has lashed out at "hypocrites" who are criticizing her after she rubbed government colleagues the wrong way with her Playboy appearance. Her critics include her direct boss, Prime Minister Elizabeth Borne.

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Violent protests in France

France is currently reeling with increasingly violent riots after President Macron announced he would raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 without a parliamentary vote. Millions of people have taken to the streets of Paris to raise their voices against the controversial move, with some involved in running battles with the police. 

France's interior minister speaks

France's Interior Minister, Gerald Darmanin, said that "the aim is to bring fire and blood to France". Police have been caught on camera, charging at protesters, while garbage bins are set alight and shop windows smashed up in chaotic scenes.

Along with the parliament in revolt, President Macron has to deal with PR fallout of Schiappa's stunt. After all, the first female politician to appear in the Playboy magazine is a member of his administration. The self-proclaimed 'sapiosexual' reportedly agreed to give the interview to discuss women's rights, feminism, violence against women as well as current politics. 

Schiappa has defended her decision

Schiappa defended her decision on social media, after facing backlash by tweeting, "Defending the right of women to do what they want with their bodies: everywhere and all the time. In France, women are free. Whether it annoys the retrogrades and hypocrites or not." 

French PM criticizes Schiappa

French Prime Minister Borne, only the second woman to occupy the position, called Schiappa to tell her that it "was not at all appropriate, especially in the current period," a source told AFP. Greens MP and fellow women's rights activist Sandrine Rousseau, who is known as an outspoken critic of the centrist government, said, "where is the respect for the French people?". According to Daily Mail, she added, "People who are going to have to work for two years more, who are demonstrating, who are losing days of salary, who aren't managing to eat because of inflation? Women's bodies should be able to be exposed anywhere... I don't have a problem with that, but there's a social context." 

Playboy defends Schiappa

Playboy also joined Schiappa in defending the interview, with editor Jean-Christophe Florentin insisting the French minister was the "most 'Playboy compatible" of government ministers "because she is attached to the rights of women and she has understood that it's not a magazine for old machos but could be an instrument for the feminist cause."

"Playboy is not a soft porn magazine but a 300-page quarterly 'mook' (a mix of a book and a magazine) that is intellectual and on trend," Florentin added, while admitting there were "still a few undressed women but they're not the majority of the pages."