Paralyzed Woman Poses In Lingerie To Prove Disabilities Don’t Limit Sexuality

Disabled bodies are just as sexy — and just as good at sex – as abled bodies are. 

Rachelle Friedman Chapman was 24 years old when she was paralyzed from the chest down after a freak accident the night of her bachelorette party in 2010. Now, a public speaker and author, the married mother of one shares her story often to show that being disabled means her life has changed, but it’s definitely not over. 

To combat the common assumptions that disabled people can’t be sexy or don’t make great sex partners, Chapman did a beautiful boudoir photoshoot in nothing but lingerie.

“I think a lot of people have a hard time seeing through the wheelchair so here I am, this is me without the chair. But I’m actually the exact same person,” Chapman told The Huffington Post. “I hope it will make people think. People with disabilities still have sexuality and honestly I’m tired of being something that we can’t talk about as a society.”

Rachelle Friedman Chapman // Revolution Studios

“I’m doing this for those who can’t see past a wheelchair,” Chapman said. “I’m doing it to show that we are capable, sexual beings and we are not to be overlooked. I’m not glamorizing disability. My paralysis is an awful part of my life and I hope for a cure. But, in the meantime I need to love myself.”

Chapman said that while she struggles with self confidence issues, intimacy is a very important part of life — disabled or not. “I love my body now and I’m not afraid to talk about sexuality intimacy or beauty,” she said. “There is no shame in talking about sexuality because at the end of the day it is an important part of who we all are as individuals.”

“When my story hit the media people were so impressed that my fiancé would stay with me ‘like this,’” Chapman said. “Sure, it affected my self esteem but most of all it made me sad for my fellow wheelchair users who are still looking for love. We are smart, courageous, funny, beautiful and yes… sexy.”

Take a look at Chapman’s lingerie photoshoot proving just how beautiful and sexy disabled people are. 

• Rachelle Friedman Chapman // Revolution Studios
  

• Rachelle Friedman Chapman // Revolution Studios
  

• Rachelle Friedman Chapman // Revolution Studios
  

• Rachelle Friedman Chapman // Revolution Studios
  

• Rachelle Friedman Chapman // Revolution Studios
  

Head over to Chapman’s website to read more about her story. 

Also on The Huffington Post:

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Kelly Campbell and teammate Cynthia Schmidt of the Las Vegas Sin. Source …

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WARNING: EXPLICIT LANGUAGE. Queensland Chloe Butler training for the US Lingerie Football League

Kelly Campbell and teammate Cynthia Schmidt of the Las Vegas Sin.
Source: Getty Images

YOU knew it was saucy, maybe even a little sleazy, but who knew it was so cheap?

A revealing report has exposed the bare fact that players in America’s Legends Football League (LFL) are unpaid. Yep, their pay packets are even more naked than they are.

But change could be in the wind due to legal action.

The Legends Football League, formerly the “Lingerie Football League”, rebranded with the word “legends” in 2013. Officially these days the league is not about the undies, even though, duh, it’s obviously about the lack of clothing.

We now know it’s about the lack of money too — a point dramatically made on sports and pop culture website Grantland.com.

“If we paid a dime to a player, we wouldn’t sustain a season of play,” Mitchell Mortaza, the league’s founder and chairman, told the site.

In financial terms, players are clinging on by the seat of their pants.
Source: AFP

Mortaza is the man who started, or tried to start, a Legends Football League in Australia. The Australian league never got into gear — or the local ladies out of their gear — because Mortaza couldn’t secure a TV deal.

He reportedly came close to stitching a deal with 7Mate, but like those skimpy lycra outfits, the stitching came apart at the seams.

Mortaza is now back in Las Vegas running the American league, which has shrunk from 12 teams to six in recent times, but which still is a popular enough product to have a deal with a pay TV network.

Despite that deal, and despite crowds of around 5,000 per game at many venues, players have received no payment since the inaugural 2009/10 season.

By way of comparison, Australia’s ANZ Championship netball competition also has crowds of around 5,000. Its players receive anywhere from $12,500 a season for bench players, to six-figure salaries for the elite players.

So why not a similar remuneration for the ladies of the LFL? It wouldn’t be megabucks, but it’d be something.

News.com.au approached Mortaza to answer this and other questions. He told us he would have his say in an official statement responding to what he called the “tabloid journalism” of Grantland.

That so-called “tabloid journalism”, on what most regard as a highly reputable site, includes mentions of lawsuits against the LFL.

They train three times a week, do promotional work, play in front of big crowds yet earn nothing. Not fair.
Source: AP

Some ex-LFL players are seeking compensation for injuries. (Incredibly, LFL players must pay for their own health insurance).

Then there are the fights over payment, which hinge on whether the players are defined as employees or contractors.

“These women have to be there for practices, or they don’t play. They have to be there for promotional events, or they don’t play. They have to look a certain way. That’s not an independent contractor-client relationship. It’s an employee-employer relationship,” a lawyer told Grantland.

The inference being employees should be paid at least the US minimum wage.

Meanwhile, Mortaza has been openly dismissive and blatantly rude towards many of those who complain about conditions, or to those who seek who seek any form of compensation or payment.

“She was a cancer,” he wrote of a certain player who demanded to be paid.

As the legal fight unfolds, the eternal ethical debate rages on. Feminists argue the sport is degrading, that it’s about titillation for the crowd rather than celebrating female athletes.

That debate is on the sidelines for once.

While it’s true that most LFL players do not like performing in undies, this week’s story showed that they willingly put up with the skimpy outfits in order to play the game they love.

What increasing numbers of them won’t put up with is being ripped off.

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