Can posing for Playboy be a feminist statement?

Marlene Schiappa, a feminist author-turned-junior social economy minister, sparked outrage after appearing in a low-cut white bodysuit exposing her cleavage and spread legs in the April/June issue of the French Playboy.

The Playboy cover will be accompanied by a 12-page interview in which Schiappa, who made a name for herself by spearheading legislation outlawing catcalling and street harassment in France, talks about women’s and LGBTQ rights.

France’s Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne called Schiappa this weekend to say that her photoshoot and Playboy interview were “not at all appropriate, all the more so in the current period.

Schiappa, 40, doubled down on her decision to pose for Playboy in a tweet Saturday.

“Defending the right of women to have control of their bodies, that’s everywhere and all the time. In France, women are free. With all due respect to the detractors and hypocrites,” the mom of two wrote.

The Playboy scandal comes at a time when Macron and his government are facing a major backlash over the decision to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 years in an apparent bid to prevent the collapse of France’s pension system.

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