The semi-topless heroine portrayed on Virginia’s state flagcaused chaos recently when a school district in Texas scrubbed her image from its e-learning platform back in April.

Anti-censorship advocates from the Texas Freedom to Read Project lambasted the ban in an in-depth blog post, describing it as a “new level of dystopian, book-banning and censorship hell in Texas.” If the bare breast of a Roman goddess can be censored, they asked, what next? “Tomorrow will it be books that contain historical photos or depictions of Holocaust survivors? Breast-feeding mothers? Art history books that portray the Statue of David, or the Birth of Venus?”

Sophomoric debates around nudity in art history aside, you may be wondering: Why does this elusive symbol of Virginia have her rack out anyway?

The elementary school kids of Texas might never be allowed to know the answer, so here’s a brief history lesson: The controversial heroine depicted on Virginia’s flag and state seal is actually Virtus, the Roman goddess of virtue. The story of its creation dates back to 1776, when Virginia was officially declared a commonwealth. The state had been a British colony for 169 years; in fact, the name Virginia is a reference to British Queen Elizabeth I, known as the “Virgin Queen” because she never married.

In this context, the design of the flag is hardly subtle. Virtus — the personified spirit of virtue, valor, strength and bravery — is the victorious heroine, literally stepping on the neck of some weak, defeated king who lays motionless next to his fallen crown. This goddess represents Virginia, and the vanquished villain is the British Empire. To really hammer home the message, there’s an accompanying motto: Sic Semper Tyrannis, or “Thus Always to Tyrants.”

A basic translation: Don’t fuck with Virginia.

Earlier designs of the flag and seal were a little more modest. Case in point: Virtus once wore a full breastplate. Interestingly, there’s long been debate around the gender of this mysterious goddess, as the word “virtus” is often associated with manliness because, of course, strength, valor and courage have historically been seen as “masculine” qualities. The initial image of Virtus looked similarly androgynous, so the gender-bending icon caused a sense of confusion and frustration.

As such, Virtus didn’t actually have her boob exposed until 1901, when a then-state official of Virginia decided that the woman on the flag looked a little too manly. Essentially, Virtus was transvestigated before it was ever a thing, and the decision was made that she should be more obviously female. So, naturally, her tit came out. A new revision of the flag — the one we know and love today — led to her famed blue toga getting tugged down on the left side, earning Virginia’s Virtus the honor of being the first (and only) U.S. state flag to feature nudity.