THE HECTIC CONFUSING CASE + AFTERMATH of #LORENABOBBITT

 THE HECTIC, CONFUSING CASE+ AFTERMATH

   #LORENABOBBITT

_______________________________________________

BACKGROUND INFO.

John Wayne Bobbitt (born 1967) and Lorena Bobbitt (née Gallo; born 15 May 1969)[ were an American former couple, married on June 18, 1989whose relationship received international press coverage in 1993 when Lorena severed John's penis with a knife while he was asleep in bed; the penis was successfully surgically reattached. Lorena, an Ecuadorian immigrant, claimed that her husband John, a bar bouncer and former U.S. Marine, had raped and abused her for years. John was charged with rape later that year but was acquitted and subsequently starred in two pornographic films. The next year, Lorena was acquitted of assault by reason of insanity and went on to start a foundation for domestic abuse victims and their children. The couple divorced in 1995.

_____________________________________________

LORENA'S ATTACK OF JOHN

Lorena Bobbitt severed her husband John's penis on June 23, 1993 at their home in Manassas, Virginia. Lorena stated in a court hearing that, after coming home that evening, her husband had raped her. After he then went to sleep, she got out of bed and went to the kitchen for a drink of water. She then grabbed an eight-inch Ginsu carving knife on the kitchen counter, returned to their bedroom, pulled back the bed sheets, and cut off his penis.

After this, Lorena left the apartment with the severed appendage and drove away in her car. After a length of time driving and struggling to steer with one hand due to holding the penis, she threw the penis out a window into a roadside field on Maplewood Drive. She eventually stopped and called 9-1-1, telling them what she had done and where the penis could be found. John's penis was found after an exhaustive search, and after being washed with antiseptic and packed in saline ice, it was reattached in the hospital where he was treated. The operation took nine and a half hours. John went on to star in two pornographic films in the 1990s, and stated in 2018 that his penis is "back to normal".John also went on to accumulate a record of serious abuse allegations and some criminal convictions.

____________________________________

ARREST AND TRIAL

When Lorena was arrested on June 23,1993, she told the police, "He always have orgasm , and he doesn't wait for me ever to have orgasm. He's selfish." This conversation with Detective Peter Weintz was tape-recorded, and the transcript was read later in the trial by Mary Grace O'Brien, the Prince William County Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney prosecuting Lorena.

During the trial, the Bobbitts revealed details of their volatile relationship and the events that led to the assault. Lorena stated that John sexually, physically, and emotionally abused her during their marriage, claiming that he had flaunted his infidelities and forced her to have an abortion. Her defense attorneys, who included the defense lawyer Blair D. Howard, maintained that John's constant abuse eventually caused Lorena to "snap" because she was suffering from clinical depression and a possible bout of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) due to the abuse. John denied the allegations of abuse; however, when he was cross-examined by Howard, his statements often conflicted with known facts, severely weakening the prosecution's case.

Lorena testified that John had raped her and physically battered her on multiple occasions prior to the evening of the incident, that they lacked financial stability, and that he stole her earnings and spent the proceeds. Both the prosecution and the defense conceded that John had demonstrated a history of abuse toward his wife and that this abuse created a context for the assault. Expert witnesses for both sides testified that "he had mentally and physically battered her; that the abuse was escalating; and that, by 1993, she lived in constant fear of him." The defense strategy emphasized Lorena's action as being a mix of self-defense and temporary insanity constituting an "irresistible impulse" due to the history and pattern of abuse and rape. One expert witness testified that, "Lorena believed and was immobilized by John's threat, 'I will find you, whether we're divorced or separated. And wherever I find you, I'll have sex with you whenever I want to.'"

John was later acquitted of marital sexual assault by a jury of nine women and three men.He gave multiple versions of what had happened that evening in question, relating at various times to police and to the court that "they had not had sex; that Lorena had tried to initiate sex, but he had been too tired; that they had had sex, but he had slept through it; and that the sex had been consensual."

After seven hours of deliberation, the jury found Lorena not guilty by reason of insanity caused by an irresistible impulse to sexually wound John. As a result, she could not be held liable for her actions. Under state law, the judge ordered Lorena to undergo a 45-day evaluation period at Central State Hospital in Petersburg, after which she would be released. In 1995, after six years of marriage, John and Lorena finalized their divorce.

____________________________________________-

LEGACY OF JOHN AND LORENA AFTER TRIAL

The Bobbitt case brought attention to the issue of domestic violence and marital rape. Within days of the incident, some anti-domestic violence advocates and some feminist groups rallied around Lorena, citing the continuous abuse she suffered at the hands of John that led her to attack him, albeit in an unusual and violent manner.

Media attention surrounding the case resulted in national debate and also sparked a flurry of jokes, limericks, T-shirt slogans, and advertising gimmicks, as well as Howard Stern having John as a guest on his 1993 New Year's Eve special and fundraising $250,000 to defray the outstanding costs of his surgery. MCI had also unknowingly been drawn into the fray by running a television commercial a couple of weeks after the incident, advertising how the Bobbitts—a family from Siaconset, Massachusetts, of no relation to John and Lorena Bobbitt—saved by switching to MCI, causing jokes to be made of "when they cut off your service, they mean it".

Shortly after the incident, episodes of "Bobbittmania", or copycat crimes, were reported, although the incidents were generally self-inflicted wounds or accidents.The names of John and Lorena Bobbitt eventually became synonymous with penis removal. The terms "Bobbittized punishment" and "Bobbitt Procedure" gained social recognition.

After the 1991 Gulf War, the United States Air Force decided to remove the tail gun turrets from all B-52 strategic bombers. Crews started calling the bombers without tail guns "Bobbited".

The bristle worm Eunice aphroditois is informally known as the "Bobbitt Worm" after the case, because it attacks its prey with scissor-like jaws.

Mary Beth Edelson’s life-size monument to Lorena Bobbitt is entitled Kali Bobbitt (1994). It was included in MoMA PS1's 2015 survey show Greater New York. The sculpture reimagines Bobbitt as the warrior goddess Kali, mounted on a ziggurat plinth, adorned with knives, and grasping a severed penis.

"Weird Al" Yankovic's 1994 song "Headline News", a parody of the Crash Test Dummies hit "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm", makes reference to the "man who made his wife so mad she cut off his weiner".

The Canadian hardcore punk band SNFU released a song "Bobbitt" on their 1996 album Fyulaba.

The incident has been referenced in movies and television shows, such as David Fincher's 1999 adaptation of Fight Club and the Coen brothers' 2004 remake of The Ladykillers.

Family Guy has referenced the incident in multiple episodes starting on March 11, 2007 in the episode "Bill & Peter's Bogus Journey". After sleeping with Bill Clinton, Lois says that she was a worse wife than when Lorena Bobbitt was married to The Thing. A cutaway gag then shows The Thing looking for his severed penis. On October 11, 2009 the incident was referenced in the episode "Spies Reminiscent of Us" during Peter's improv performance. Peter performs an 'impression' of John Bobbitt in the same manner as his John Wayne impression, due to the name similarity, before following it up with an impression of John Wayne Gacy in the same manner. Later, on November 10, 2019, the show referenced the incident again in the episode "Peter and Lois' Wedding" where Peter and Lois meet in the 1990s; in the beginning Peter states "it was the decade of Viagra but also the decade of Lorena Bobbitt, so it was a yay-boo period for penises". It was also referenced in the episode "The Lois Quagmire", first airing on February 27, 2022.

Lyrics from Tech N9ne's 2008 song "Psycho Bitch II" reference the incident "Lorena Bobbitt told her to slice yo' dick, if you ever break up wit' a psycho bitch".

In February 2019, Amazon released Lorena, a four-part docu-series produced by Jordan Peele about the incident, which features interviews with both Lorena and John.

On May 25, 2020, Lifetime aired I Was Lorena Bobbitt as part of its "Ripped from the Headlines" feature films. While Lorena serves as the onscreen narrator and executive producer, the film stars Dani Montalvo as Lorena Bobbitt and Luke Humphrey as John Bobbitt.

A lyric from Lizzo's 2022 song "Grrrls" is "I'ma go Lorena Bobbitt on him so he never fuck again, no-oh, oh".

John is given a brief mention during the Fall Out Boy cover of "We Didn't Start the Fire" in 2023, as part of the "updated" list of events used in the lyrics.