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Author Name: BoingBoing
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License: CC-BY-NC-SA 3.0.[2]


The origins of mudflap girl

2021-11-23 00:00:00

I've seen mudflap girl from the car during road trips, but I never thought much about her until Magdalene Taylor dug into her history for Mel Magazine.

She is America's big-breasted, disproportionate everywoman. She is the embodiment of kitsch erotica. She is the bodacious North Star of the working-class road warrior. She is Mudflap Girl, and she is the proud owner of some of the most iconic hogans in recent history. Mel

In today's culture, she might not be quite as appealing as she was in the 70s when the photo started to appear. After all, she's a portrait of hypersexualized femininity, and she might propagate unrealistic beauty standards. Still, her legacy lives on, and her image is sometimes reclaimed as a symbol of feminism (she's in the logo for the blog Feministing).

In 2011, Wired ran a story about a man who claimed that mudflap girl was his mother, but the actual origin of the symbol can't be verified. Perhaps her home is on the road.
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