French Secretary of State Marlène Schiappa caused controversy in France for giving an interview and posing for Playboy, which was deemed “inappropriate” in the current context of social conflict. The erotic magazine will be published this Thursday (April 6th).
Schiappa, 40, responsible for the area of social and solidarity economy and club life, posed in a white dress and spoke about women’s rights, politics and literature in the adult edition of the magazine.
“Defending a woman’s right to dispose of her own body is always and everywhere. In France, women are free,” the secretary tweeted over the weekend. She is also an adult book author and very active on social media.
For the editor of Schiappa magazine, politics “is most compatible with ‘Playboy’ because she is committed to women’s rights, has understood that the platform is no longer a magazine for old chauvinists and can be an instrument of the feminist cause”.
However, Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne called Schiappa and told him that she considered his appearance in the erotic magazine “completely inappropriate” in the current context of tension because of an unpopular pension reform.
The French government is facing largescale protests against raising the retirement age from 62 to 64 (from 2030) and increasing the contribution to 43 (from 2027) in order to be entitled to a full pension. This reform was passed by decree by liberal President Emmanuel Macron.
The leftwing opposition criticized the government’s communications strategy after Labor Minister Olivier Dussopt appeared in LGBTQIA+ magazine Têtu and Macron gave an interview to children’s magazine Pif Gadget.
“We are in the middle of a social crisis (…) and I have the impression that there is a smoke screen between Têtu, Pif Gadget and Playboy,” lamented ecofeminist Congresswoman Sandrine Rousseau on BFMTV.
“France is falling apart,” said leftist leader JeanLuc Mélenchon.