'Backed the right of women to pose nude': French minister defends Playboy shoot as criticism from colleagues mounts

Paris, France: After new criticism from her cabinet colleagues regarding her action on Wednesday, a feminist French minister who appeared for Playboy told the magazine she supported women’s freedom to pose naked if they wanted to.

Marlene Schiappa, the current Minister of the Social Economy and Associations, features in the French version of Playboy this month, which is slated to hit stores on Thursday, despite the fact that the photographs have already leaked to French media.

Schiappa adopts a number of positions in the 12-page interview, all fully dressed, wearing elaborate costumes and ensembles in the French tricolour of red, white, and blue.

“If some (women) want to pose in a men’s magazine and enjoy it, I think that we shouldn’t blame them,” Schiappa told the magazine.

She cited Pamela Anderson as an inspiration after the US glamour model spoke of how posing for Playboy had been “an act of emancipation”.

“Like the Miss France. If they enjoy winning a beauty contest, I find that great too and we should support them,” Schiappa continued.

For the most part, the lengthy interview focuses on her work as a women’s rights defender within President Emmanuel Macron’s government, tackling topics including domestic violence, street harassment and sexual abuse.

Several colleagues were taken aback by the timing of the interview, which came in the midst of a huge political crisis for the administration, which is dealing with violent protests and strikes over an increase in the retirement age.

‘Sexist stereotypes’

After Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne let it be known she had called media-savvy Schiappa to tell her that the unauthorised shoot was “not at all appropriate”, Equalities Minister Isabelle Rome broke cover to condemn the initiative.

“I wonder to myself: why would you choose Playboy to try to advance the cause of women when this magazine is a concentration of sexist stereotypes? It’s all about the culture of women as objects,” she told the Figaro newspaper.

Rome, a former magistrate, said that “when you are a minister, you have responsibilities” while recalling that Playboy’s founder Hugh Hefner was accused of sexual assault.

The late mogul has been accused by a string of women of rape and predatory behaviour at his Playboy mansion in California, including in last year’s docu-series “Secrets of Playboy”.

Rome’s comments raise further doubts about whether Schiappa can remain in government at a time when Macron is said to be considering reshuffling his cabinet.

Schiappa was unrepentant about attracting the limelight during her six-year political career which has made her one of the most recognisable ministers in Macron’s government.

“It’s an advantage, on the contrary,” she told the magazine when asked whether her frankness was a danger in politics. “Because people say that politics has become colourless, that everyone resembles one another… I don’t resemble anyone else.”

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