Not Quite Naked Came The Minister
The surprise announcement that French Minister Marlène Schiappa had posed for Playboy (fully clothed!) provoked an outcry and even divided her own government.
Frankly, things had been at risk of getting a little dull around here. The garbage collectors had started collecting garbage. Macron’s government is considering a package of workplace reforms to calm the backlash against its retirement reform (though strikes and protests will continue).
This risked leaving a void in the outrage landscape française. Fortunately, it was quickly filled by the revelation that Marlène Schiappa, the French Secretary of State for Social Economy and Associations, would be featured on the cover of the French edition of Playboy magazine.
Playboy caused a stir this weekend when it released the above teaser photo for the upcoming cover of the magazine and disclosed for the first time that Schiappa had participated in a photo shoot (fully clothed!) and had given an exclusive interview to what the French refer to as a magazine de charme.
The news dropped on April 1, leaving some media to assure their audience that it was not a gag. And given the age we live in, others had to verify that the photos that circulated were not AI-generated. (Though, some internet people certainly took liberties to create lewd deep-fake versions.)
This collaboration was top secret, hush-hush stuff, which meant that Schiappa didn’t give her bosses a heads up, which did not overly please them. Bosses can be like that.
To understand the dust-up, it helps just to know a bit about Schiappa. The 40-year-old minister had gained some notoriety as a feminist blogger and author, as well as an activist for gender equality in the political arena. She met Emmanuel Macron on the campaign trail in 2017, and he later asked her to join his government, where she has held posts such as Secretary of State for Gender Equality and then later Minister Delegate in charge of Citizenship.
Beyond her resume, what’s important to note is that she is a frequent guest on news shows and her personality and politics drive the Right in France absolutely bonkers.
Given that her mere existence is enough to cause a decent part of France’s political spectrum to lose its mind, her Playboy appearance has been met with predictable backlash from the right.
Beyond the conservatives, however, the left had to find a way to reflexively criticize the government. And so they hit on anger over elitism: Images of a woman wearing fancy dresses during widespread social unrest. A kind of Let Them Eat Prada! moment.
Sandrine Rousseau of the Green Party said in an interview on BFM: "Where is the respect for the French people…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."
She wondered: Was this all just a smoke screen?
Meanwhile, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, de-factor leader of the left-wing NUPES parliamentary party, suggested the whole affair was the latest sign that, “France is going off the rails.”
Side note 1: Melenchon referenced in this tweet an interview Macron gave to a children’s magazine called Pif, which also sent the French political establishment into a tizzy. Just to give you a sense that literally anything can ignite a firestorm.
Side note 2: It is impossible to overstate how much media attention Shiappa’s Playboy appearance has received in France.
In between France’s left and right, Schiappa has received blowback from her own government, which appears divided over the appearance.
Numerous reports indicated that Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne called Schiappa to tell her that appearing in Playboy was “not appropriate.” In this case, the issue is one of timing. The interviews and photo shoot took place as the government was engaged in a bitter fight to ram its controversial retirement reform through. And now the magazine will be published on Thursday, which is the next national day of strikes and protests.
On the other hand, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin offered his public support, saying that “being a liberated woman isn’t easy.”
Of course, basking in this media frenzy is Jean-Christophe Florentin, the publisher of Playboy in France.
In a series of interviews, he explained the first contact with Schiappa happened 3 months ago. Why her? Well, Fortentin explained that she is the “most Playboy compatible” due to her “freedom of tone” and her “physique.”
“We said to ourselves 'why couldn't we try to make a subject where we would mix women's rights and a somewhat sexy subject?'" he said in an interview with Europe 1.
In other words, pure catnip for the French media.
While Florentin would not confirm whether Schiappa is naked, he said, “The question of whether Marlène Schiappa appears naked, on the cover or inside, I will be careful not to answer to leave the suspense completely intact. What I can say is that she is in amazing poses from a minister, that's for sure." (Schiappa’s staff has assured everyone she is not naked, and leaked photos seem to confirm that.)
Despite the outcry, Schiappa is clear that she felt the interview and the likely attention it would draw would give her an opportunity to talk to a large audience about issues that are important to her. These include the ongoing struggle for gender equality in France, violence against women, and the fight for women to feel liberated in all aspects of their lives.
"Defending the right of women to do what they want with their bodies: everywhere and all the time," Schiappa wrote on Twitter on Saturday. "In France, women are free. Whether it annoys the retrogrades and hypocrites or not."
One final note: The news about Playboy came just two days after France Televisions broadcast an investigation criticizing wasteful spending by a foundation created by Schiappa in the wake of the brutal murder of a school teacher. The foundation is supposed to combat radicalization online. But the investigation found that much of the €2.5 million went to people or organizations that had connections to Schiappa for projects that had little impact.
Of course, that story got little subsequent media attention because obviously there were more important and sexier topics afoot when it came to Schiappa.
Chris O’Brien
Le Pecq