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Softball Star Lauren Chamberlain Posed Nude To Inspire 'Bigger Girls'

Softball player Lauren Chamberlain poses naked for ESPN's Body Issue, she hopes her nude shoot will inspire 'thicker, bigger' girls. She wants to spread the word of body positivity.

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Ria Das
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Lauren Chamberlain

Curve the niche, Lauren Chamberlain! Wordplay falls short as this American softball player just recently posed nude to spread the word of body positivity. She shares the struggle before how sport changed the way she views her body.

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The 24-year-old former Olympian shows her curves in a nude photo spread for ESPN Magazine’s annual “Body Issue.” The agenda was to send out the themes of loving yourself under any circumstances. Chamberlain recalled growing up in Orange County, California, where she said “thick just wasn’t in.” Under societal pressure, she dreaded jeans shopping, and would refuse to buy any pairs that went above a “certain size”. However, eventually she learned to appreciate her body type when her sports career finally took off.

“I said yes for the girls around the world who might see the issue and see someone who looks like them — someone who's thicker, bigger, not as jacked as the typical athlete — and that could give them that boost to love their bodies,” she told the publication.

“I loved what my body was doing for me on the field, and that started to translate off the field,” she told the magazine. “When I got to college athletics, my body and power were celebrated and appreciated; that was huge for my mind-set on my body image,” she added.

“I am big-boned, no doubt about it,” she claimed. “But I really like my thick legs. I love my thighs. I have an insane amount of power, especially in my hitting. That’s my thing, and I own hitting because of my body structure” she continued.

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Chamberlain advices, “You're after this unattainable look, this Instagram look, and it's not achievable. I still deal with that insecurity. How am I not shaped and curved like that Instagram model? But you know what? She can't hit a ball like me or move like me. She can't do what I can do.”

A Glamour magazine survey revealed that 97% of women have at least one negative thought about their body image every single day.

Chamberlain advices, “You're after this unattainable look, this Instagram look, and it's not achievable. I still deal with that insecurity. How am I not shaped and curved like that Instagram model? But you know what? She can't hit a ball like me or move like me. She can't do what I can do.”

“I will always be thick. I will always be a bigger girl. When I get muscle, it’s not cut. I have dimples and cellulite on my legs. But I’ve come to an understanding about that, instead of being picky about myself in the mirror,” Chamberlain said adding that she wanted to show the world, especially young girls who look up to her.

Chamberlain, 25, who played for Oklahoma from 2012 to 2015, has recently announced her retirement from softball at the Women's College World Series. “I never thought that I would say those words, but unfortunately, I can only go as far as my body would let me, and it's not letting me go any further,” she told ESPN in an interview.

She was the sole owner of the Sooners' record for most home runs in a season with 30, until Jocelyn Alo matched it last season.

Feature Image Credit: ESPN

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