"Mudflap Girl" Challenged For Obscenity In Montana

Practically everyone who has driven a car or paused at a truck-stop has seen a silhouette of a naked woman either on the mud-flaps of a truck or as an air freshener dangling from the rear-view mirror. But to at least one citizen, it is an obscenity so objectionable, they want the police involved.

The back window of an SUV in Montana has become the battleground over whether the familiar naked lady silhouette should be displayed or not. Two residents are arguing before local officials about whether the image is obscene.

Ironically, it is a woman, Shanna Weaver of Great Falls, who has the sticker on the rear window of her SUV that depicts a woman's silhouette above the word "SKIN." Great Falls resident Brian Smith, meanwhile, parks across the street from Weaver's SUV on a daily basis and says he should not be forced to endure what he considers to be a sacrilegious display of the human body.

"My upbringing dictates that the human body is a sacred thing, not something that should be put on display," Smith told The Great Falls Tribune.

The logo itself appears to be from Skin Industries, an organization that dubs itself a "Sports Fashion" company. The sticker is akin to the famous mudflap girl silhouette that's often seen on tractor trailer trucks. It contains no shadowing but is more detailed than the famous and ubiquitous mudflap girl.

Weaver and Smith have discussed it, with Weaver taking the opinion that her First Amendment rights make the sticker perfectly acceptable.

"It's my freedom of speech, which he can't take away," Weaver told The Tribune. "It's no different from the mud flaps that you see on trucks."

Smith, on the other hand, feels it's obscenity and has taken his complaint the local police. Not surprisingly, the officer sent to investigate the dispute said the sticker was not obscene and the dispute has never made it beyond a mere complaint with the Great Falls Police Department.

But this issue accentuates an ongoing debate about what constitutes obscenity within the public space. With many obscenity laws often employing vague and subjective language, issues like this will continue to arise, especially as people continue to elect to express themselves via their vehicles.

Sound off in the poll above about whether or not you think the Skin Industries graphic is obscene, or let us know what you really think in the comments.