Her Husband Abused Her. Her Revenge Was Insane.

It was around four in the morning on July 23rd, 1993. A woman drove alone along a dark road, heading for the nail salon where she worked. A horrible, shameful secret was about to burst out of her, and it was the only place where she felt safe enough to finally break down.

As she turned the steering wheel, an object in her hand made her clumsy. She rolled down the driver’s side window and tossed the item away.

The nail salon was closed, but the woman had a key. To her surprise, the building was empty. She returned to her car and drove to her boss’s house. There, the secret came tumbling out. Her husband was hitting her, choking her, and forcing her to have sex with him. As expected, her boss knew exactly what to do: she called the police.

But the police were already well aware there was something very wrong with this marriage. They told the woman that they would take her statement, but there was a far more urgent matter at hand. They needed to know where, exactly, she’d rolled down that car window. Because it hadn’t been an ordinary piece of trash that she’d thrown onto the side of the road; it was her husband’s severed penis.

The woman gave the police the exact location. As officers fanned out into the field, rumors were already swirling. Soon, one overarching question would engulf every U.S. state and, eventually, the world: what drives a woman to chop off her husband’s penis?

The Love Story

Lorena Gallo was born on May 15th, 1969. At seven years old, her family moved from Ecuador to Venezuela in search of better opportunities. Her parents weren’t wealthy, but they loved each other and were determined to provide their children with a better life.

As a teenager, Lorena became obsessed with American soap operas like The Young and the Restless and All My Children. She dreamed of moving to the United States, where life was clearly more exciting and glamorous. She made a deal with her parents: instead of throwing a quinceñera for her fifteenth birthday, they would instead take her on a trip to visit relatives near Washington, D.C. It was a journey that would change her life.

Lorena fell in love with the United States and was determined to move to the D.C. area as soon as possible. After graduating high school in Venezuela, she applied for a student visa and enrolled at a community college in northern Virginia. Her parents arranged for her to stay with a family friend who had two daughters around her age. This way, someone would be looking out for her. But as everyone knows, you cannot keep your children safe forever.

Shortly after arriving in Virginia, she attended a military ball at the Quantico Marine Force Base. The dance floor was filled with young men in their dress uniforms. Lorena was still learning English, and much of her vocabulary came from soap operas. But when a tall man with blue eyes approached her at the ball, she understood perfectly that he’d asked her for a dance.

His name was John Wayne Bobbitt. He was two years older than her, and had joined the marines right after graduating high school in Niagara Falls, New York. He liked that the military gave his life structure, something it lacked during his childhood. He thought Lorena’s accent was cute and asked for her phone number. She happily gave it to him.

The family Lorena was staying with were all devout Catholics who believed that dating had to be carefully supervised. Lorena was nineteen years old, but she and John spent most of their time together in ice cream parlors or movie theaters. Often, the family’s two daughters reluctantly came along. They made it clear that they didn’t like this man and he almost never paid for the dates. But Lorena didn’t listen. She believed this man was her American Dream.

A few months after the marine ball, John Bobbitt proposed to Lorena with a ring he’d found at the bottom of the base pool. They were married shortly after, only ten months after they’d first met. The bride was twenty years old and the groom was twenty-two.

Despite the beautiful (and very eighties-looking) wedding, this was not the beginning of a happily ever after. There was a darkness lurking beneath that military uniform, carefully hidden during their ice cream dates and optimistic conversations about the future. He might look the part, but John Wayne Bobbitt was about to prove that he was no Prince Charming.

The Horror Story

The trouble started in 1991, when John was discharged from the marines. Lorena expected that he would find a well-paying job and continue supporting their middle-class lifestyle. The couple had bought a small house in Manassas, Virginia, and Lorena worked as a manicurist at the nearby Nail and Body Sculptor.

She adored her boss, the salon owner. Janna Bissuti was an attractive blonde woman with a big house, a nice car, a happy marriage, and a successful business. To Lorena, Mrs. Bissuti was everything that she wanted to be. In John’s opinion, the woman was filling his wife’s head with fairy tales.

It turned out that getting a job was harder than he’d expected. And even when he could find someone willing to hire him, the positions never seemed to work out. A neighbor later recalled that his longest stint of employment was at a local gas station, and he’d only lasted three weeks.

Lorena realized that her job as a manicurist was now the household’s only source of income, and she simply did not make enough money to pay all the bills. She attempted to cut down on their expenses, but John still wanted to live like they had two incomes. As the bills stacked up, Lorena began to panic. She still liked her job and it made good money, but there just weren’t enough hours in the day. If she didn’t find some way to pay the mortgage, the couple would lose their home.

It was during this time that Janna Bissuti caught Lorena stealing from the salon. Instead of pressing charges, she demanded that Lorena pay back, with interest, directly out of her subsequent paychecks. The couple lost their house.

But money troubles were not the only problem with this relationship. According to Lorena, her husband had become increasingly violent, and her American Dream had slowly but surely turned into a nightmare.

She later gave an interview to an Amazon Prime documentary about a night about one month into their marriage. They were coming home from a nightclub, and John was driving. It was dark, and they’d both been drinking. Lorena recalled watching the speedometer of the car rise above the speed limit and keep going, fast enough to make her fear for her life. She told her husband to slow down, but he ignored her. She grabbed for the steering wheel. John reached across the car and punched her.

As Lorena processed what just happened, she heard her brother-in-law in the backseat tell her husband that he’d done the right thing. It was the first sign that this kind of violence was not going to be a one-time event. For what it’s worth, John denies that he hit his wife and states that he had never, ever raised a hand to a woman.

During the first four years of their marriage, the police arrived at the Bobbitt residence multiple times. It was a typical domestic violence situation, and it was handled by the book. The goal was to separate the couple so they could calm down, at which point they would hopefully remember that they’d promised to love and cherish each other for as long as they both shall live. At that point, the cops would leave, and there would be no charges filed and no paperwork to fill out.

And, ultimately, no solution for a long-term problem.

At one point, a police officer suggested that Lorena spend a night away from her husband. She took her car keys and drove to the safest place she knew: her work. She spent the night in her car in the parking lot and worked her shift as scheduled the next day. That night, she went home to her husband.

Lorena Bobbitt didn’t want to tell anyone about what her husband did behind closed doors. It was humiliating to admit that the man she’d thought was her Prince Charming was actually the villain all along. So, every time it happened, she told herself that it would be the last time. She was still a devout Catholic, and she didn’t want to go through the shame of a divorce. After all, despite everything, she still loved her husband and wanted nothing more than to be happily married.

There was, of course, one thing that would definitely change the relationship: a baby. Lorena stopped taking her birth control and soon told John that she was pregnant. She thought he would be happy. Hopefully, he would finally be motivated to find and keep a job. Then she could quit her job at the nail salon and devote herself to full-time motherhood.

John, however, was horrified. He said they weren’t even remotely ready for children and Lorena would be a terrible mother. He gave her two options: get an abortion, or raise the child on her own. Lorena chose the abortion.

The violence got worse. Lorena suspected that John was cheating on her, which was later proven to be true. When he hit her, she fought back, scratching her husband across the face with her nails. This meant that when the police showed up, John would tell them that Lorena was the aggressor and he’d only been acting in self defense. After all, who were they going to believe: a former marine, or an immigrant?

At this point, the couple lived at Maplewood Park Apartments, a collection of modest brown buildings in Manassas, Virginia. The walls were thin, and neighbors later testified that it wasn’t uncommon to hear John screaming at his wife. Lorena would yell, too, but it was mostly John.

After an especially loud episode of bangs and screams, a downstairs neighbor said that she went to check on Lorena and give her some pamphlets on domestic violence. She said that she had once been a victim, too, and Lorena should really consider leaving her husband.

But Lorena didn’t leave. She later stated that John threatened to call immigration enforcement and have her deported if she ever tried. If staying in the United States meant putting up with the abuse, then she was going to grin and bear it.

In one of her last nail appointments before June 23rd, a suburban mom named Regina Keegan gasped when her manicurist pushed up her sleeves to reveal dark bruises on both of her wrists. Lorena quickly covered them again. Mrs. Keegan asked what happened, and with trembling hands, Lorena began the manicure. She told her that her husband had grabbed her by the wrists and dangled her off the balcony of their apartment.

Mrs. Keegan told Lorena not to go back home that night. She told her about local battered women’s shelters, and even offered to let her stay at her own house. Lorena turned her down. She said it wouldn’t be worth it. Her husband would track her down and kill her wherever she went, and he would probably kill her, too, just for offering her a place to stay.

With nothing else to offer, Mrs. Keegan wrapped Lorena in a hug. It was the worst manicure of her life, because her hands had been shaking for the entire appointment. For months, Mrs. Keegan would remember this encounter and wonder if she was alright.

On June 22nd, Lorena Bobbitt walked into a police station and asked for an Order of Protection against her husband. On the form, she listed pushing, punching, choking, and marital rape as justification. The officers told her that she could appear before a judge the following week.

Lorena didn’t think she could last another week. As it turned out, she couldn’t even last another twenty-four hours.

That Night

On the night of June 23rd, the Bobbitts had a guest in their apartment. John’s childhood friend Robbie Johnston was staying the night and obviously, this meant they had to go out drinking together. Lorena opted to stay home and get some sleep. By all accounts, John and Robbie had a great time. They stumbled back into the apartment around three in the morning and headed to bed. Robbie quickly fell asleep.

Lorena says she woke up to her husband on top of her, pinning her to the bed. She immediately realized what was going on, because it had happened before. She told John that she didn’t want to have sex and he ignored her.

While Lorena’s story about what happened that night has remained largely consistent, John’s version of events changes each time he tells it. One day, he claims that he fell asleep without touching his wife; another, that she tried to get something going and he wasn’t into it. Sometimes, he says they did have sex, but it was consensual. Sometimes, he says he simply doesn’t remember that night at all.

After John fell asleep, Lorena walked into the kitchen for a glass of water. The light from the refrigerator fell on a knife that was sitting on the counter. Lorena testified that she remembers picking it up, but everything after that is blackness.

The physical evidence, however, speaks for itself. Lorena Bobbitt walked into the bedroom with the knife. She approached the bed, where her husband lay asleep. She grabbed the covers, jerking them off his body. And with one swift motion, she exacted revenge for all the suffering that he had put her through in the last four years.

John woke up and Lorena was already walking out of the bedroom, the shaft of his severed penis still in her hand. He lay there for a moment, either from shock or intoxication, unable to process what had just happened. Blood flowed from his crotch and soaked into the mattress.

Realization dawned and John got out of bed, blood dripping in a V-shape across the carpet. He stumbled across the apartment to Robbie, kicking him until he woke up. Robbie opened his eyes to see John standing over him, stark naked and gripping his bleeding groin. With horror, he realized that John’s testicles were still there, but his penis was not.

Robbie grabbed his car keys and the two of them were soon speeding to the nearest hospital. Along the way, John said, “They better be able to make me a new penis.”

The hospital, however, had other ideas. It was less than an hour since the amputation had occurred, and the urologist thought there still might be time to reattach it. Police officers were dispatched to the apartment complex with a clear directive: find the penis.

The search had turned up nothing when officers got a call. Mrs. Bobbitt was at the police station with her boss, Janna Bisutti. The officers asked where the penis was. Lorena blinked, like she was finally coming back to reality. She told them she had thrown it out the window near the local 7/11. Minutes later, police and volunteer firefighters were combing the field.

According to police officers at the scene, Sergeant Willard Hurley felt something odd beneath his shoe and nearly jumped a mile. Despite the ticking clock, he refused to touch the severed penis and asked volunteer firefighter Mike Perry to retrieve it. Their quarry in tow, the search party walked across the street to the 7/11, grabbed a hot dog box and some ice, and headed to the hospital with their makeshift organ carrier.

At the hospital, Dr. Sehn was prepping John for surgery. He was going to make do with what was left, because John was going to need to pee with or without his missing tissue. The doctor was literally wheeling him into the operating room when he heard there was a change of plans. Now that the penis was found, he was going to have to perform one of the longest and most difficult surgeries of his entire career.

Over the next nine-and-a-half hours, Dr. Sehn and plastic surgeon Dr. Berman painstakingly reattached arteries, veins, and nerves in the hope that blood flow and sensation would be restored to the severed body part. In a way, it wasn’t all that different from reattaching a finger, but the stakes definitely felt higher. After all, Lorena had gone after the one part of his body that is essential to a man’s identity. If the surgery did not succeed, John would literally and figuratively be without his manhood.

The doctors left the operating room exhausted, but optimistic. They also learned that in the past several hours, the hospital had received hundreds of phone calls and a reporter from the Washington Post was already onsite.

John Wayne Bobbitt’s penis might be back in its rightful place, but there was no staunching the tide of public interest in its temporary separation. Soon, the marriage of John and Lorena Bobbitt would become a topic of conversation for politicians, comedians, feminists, men’s rights activists, journalists, and anyone who even halfheartedly followed the news. As 1993 turned into 1994, there was simply no escaping the topic of John Wayne Bobbitt’s penis.

The Trial

When the news broke, the near-universal male response to the incident was to cringe. They examined their own manhoods and held a moment of silence for the fallen. Obviously, this woman was deranged and would be duly punished.

Women, however, had a more complicated relationship to Lorena Bobbitt. Some cackled with glee that an abusive man had finally gotten what he deserved. Others wished that they would have had the courage to carry out something similar. Some were horrified and worried that it would lead to an epidemic of castrations. Feminists either hailed her as a hero or worried that she set back the cause by making women look vengeful.

The press, of course, wasn’t helping. Stories described Lorena as a hot-blooded and jealous Latina lover. This matched with John’s version of events, which, like all his stories, kept changing. Sometimes he said that Lorena was jealous because of the cheating. Or, he said that he’d asked for a divorce and she couldn’t stand the thought of him leaving. Either way, reporters deduced that she’d chopped off his penis because she wasn’t interested in sharing it.

Lorena’s side of the story was barely mentioned. Her tale of domestic violence was depressing, complicated, and uncomfortable. The mostly male editors told their staff to stick to the version that people wanted to read. Besides, it came with a comforting message for America’s now-anxious men: don’t marry a crazy lady, and your penis will be safe!

The justice system, however, was not so fickle. Lorena had accused her husband of marital rape and she would have her day in court. But her lawyers were skeptical that the charge would stick. In 1993, North Carolina and Oklahoma were the last states to pass laws against marital rape. However, only seventeen states legally treated it the same as non-marital rape. Virginia was not among them.

In order to prove marital rape, Lorena would have to show that she and her husband were separated at the time of the assault and that physical force had been used. Unfortunately, their relationship just didn’t fit the bill. Her lawyers decided to charge John with the lesser crime of marital sexual abuse instead.

The trial was scheduled for November 1993. There was, at least, no question of whether or not the sex occurred. An examination of Lorena’s rape kit from June 23rd proved that they did. The question, however, was whether or not it was consensual. John, of course, claimed that it was. Lorena disagreed.

In accordance with Virginia law, the jury was only allowed to consider the night in question. In theory, this would keep any previous (and presumably consensual) sex out of the conversation. But it also meant that Lorena’s lawyers weren’t allowed to present evidence that John had a history of abusing his wife. The jury was going to have to decide who to believe based only on a small snapshot of their marriage.

The only physical evidence was Lorena’s torn underwear. If credible, it would prove force. However, an expert witness testified that there was evidence of scissor marks. John’s lawyers also pointed out that Lorena’s first stop that night had been the nail salon, where she would have had easy access to scissors.

After two hours of deliberation, a jury of nine women and three men determined that the case had far too much reasonable doubt. They delivered a verdict of not guilty.

It was a crushing blow to Lorena’s legal team. In only three weeks, her own trial for malicious wounding would take place in the very same courthouse, and it would have to go forward without proof of sexual assault. As things looked grim, the state offered Lorena a plea deal. If she admitted that her act was premeditated, she could be let go on time served.

Lorena refused. If she pled guilty, she would never be able to apply for U.S. citizenship. And she’d rather risk twenty years in prison than let that happen.

The trial was set for early January. In a move that baffled Lorena’s legal team, a judge ruled that the crime was not sexual in nature and could therefore be broadcast on live TV. The Manassas courthouse was soon swarming with journalists from all over the world. Some joked that the place hadn’t gotten so much attention since the beginning of the American Civil War.

In Lorena’s trial for malicious wounding, the defense was allowed to present proof of domestic violence. And present they did. The jury was shown police reports from their calls to the Bobbitt residence and photographs from the time John was arrested for punching his wife in the face. Their neighbors were brought to the stand to describe the noises they’d heard through the walls of the apartment complex. John’s basketball buddies testified how he’d told them that forced sex turned him on.

Some of the most important testimony came from Mrs. Keegan, the woman who’d spotted Lorena’s bruises during her nail appointment. An expert witness for the prosecution even changed his diagnosis of Lorena after talking with Mrs. Keegan. He later stated to the court that Lorena’s behavior during the appointment was a textbook example of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Now that they had a diagnosis, Lorena’s legal team could argue that she was not guilty by reason of temporary insanity. Specifically, they needed to prove that their client had an “irresistible impulse” to respond to her husband’s abuse, and that she was incapable of stopping herself once the thought had entered her head.

When Lorena took the stand in her own defense, she tearfully described the years of abuse she’d suffered at the hands of her husband. In an especially visually striking moment, her lawyer asked her to demonstrate for the jury how her husband would choke her. Lorena, crying and hands shaking, held both thumbs to her collarbone.

Meanwhile, across the country, the Bobbitt case was facing a second kind of trial: the court of public opinion. Every major news network offered their own commentary, and so did every major comedy network. Ultimately, the Bobbitt case became a kind of litmus test on how a person saw the world. On radio’s The Howard Stern Show, the eponymous host stated, “I don’t even buy that he was raping her…she’s not that great looking.” John, who would become a regular guest on the show, didn’t offer his own opinion.

Comedian Whoopi Goldberg, however, was quite open with hers. Onstage, she said, “You see, women live with the knowledge that weird shit can happen at any point. You go down a dark alley, and whoosh! Somebody grabs you! Now men actually have to think about this shit!” Her comments were met with loud applause.

On January 22nd, 1994, the jury announced they had reached a decision in the Bobbitt mutilation case. Viewers in the courtroom and watching live around the world held their breath as the verdict was read aloud. Lorena Bobbitt was found not guilty by reason of temporary insanity.

Afterward

The Virginia court followed the standard procedure and sentenced Lorena to forty-five days in a mental hospital. During that time, she finally received some treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder. Now that she was free of her husband, Lorena was determined to get back to her regular schedule as soon as possible. Without a felony on her record, she could finally apply for U.S. citizenship and keep working toward her American Dream.

John Bobbitt was deeply unhappy with the verdict, but he was eager to take advantage of his newfound celebrity status. He hadn’t gotten any better at keeping a job, and TV talk shows were absolutely clamoring to get him on the air. He said yes to everything and let the cash roll in.

One of the more unusual offers came from the longtime porn celebrity Ron Jeremy. He was eager to cast the ex-marine because, as he put it: “People that normally don’t watch adult movies still wanna see what John Wayne Bobbitt’s penis looks like.”

On September 29th, 1994, there was an invite-only Hollywood premiere for the film John Wayne Bobbitt: Uncut. The main star almost had to send his regrets because he was sentenced to sixty days in jail for domestic battery of his latest girlfriend. Lucky for him, however, he was let out after only fifteen days and was able to attend his porn premiere.

Entertainment Weekly reported that the main appeal of the film was “the spectacle of a debased celebrity upping the ante on his debasement.” John Wayne Bobbitt was supposedly paid one million dollars for the starring role, but most of the proceeds went to Ron Jeremy. John eventually filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. As a result, the hospital that reattached his penis was unable to collect the medical debt that he still owed on the surgery.

To avoid a sophomore slump in his porn career, John Bobbitt decided to undergo penis enlargement surgery. Howard Stern, who apparently found the idea hilarious, agreed to bankroll it. His doctors told him this was a terrible idea. He, of course, did it anyway.

The results were a botched surgery and a 1996 pornographic film titled Frankenpenis. To avoid going into too much detail, the process of filming the movie turned out to be quite painful. As a result, John had to go through the world’s first transplanted penis reduction surgery, which is certainly a unique claim to fame.

Through his connections in the sex industry, John Bobbitt met with Dennis Hof, the owner of a legal Nevada brothel called Moonlite Bunny Ranch. Hof offered him a job as a celebrity greeter, which involved mostly standing around and letting potential customers ask questions about his penis. Even this, however, was too difficult for him. He was fired multiple times for drinking on the job, interfering with sales, and being generally unpleasant to work with.

But sooner or later, he always got his job back. When asked why he gave John so many chances, Dennis Hof replied, “I’m a media whore.”

But, of course, John could not resist breaking the one rule that would get him kicked out of the brothel business for good. In 1998, he was busted for sleeping with Desiree, one of the establishment’s sex workers. He immediately fled to New York. About a year later, a child reported that they’d seen John dragging Desiree down a hallway. John was found guilty of harassment.

In a last-ditch effort to keep his name relevant, John Bobbitt appeared on WWE’s Monday Night Raw under the name Val Venis. He then moved to Vegas, took a variety of odd jobs, and got married to a woman named Joanna Ferrell. In 2004, he was again arrested on battery charges. He and Joanna divorced shortly afterward.

In 2019, the New York Times asked John to comment on his criminal record. He said: “It’s all made up and I’m tired of it. I was with a lot of women, a lot of women and none of them ever complained, except Lorena…and Joanna.”

As for his ex-wife, the couple finalized their divorce in 1995. Lorena changed her last name back to Gallo, returned to her job at the nail salon, and generally tried to pretend that everything was normal. Still suffering from PTSD, she came to the conclusion that she had two options for numbing the pain: drugs, or religion. She soon became a regular at the local Catholic Church.

Her boss Janna Bisutti became something like her media manager, arranging interviews for Lorena on talk shows across the country. Lorena said that she didn’t like prolonging the attention, but she had legal fees to pay. She later realized that Janna was taking a fifteen percent cut and the two had an irreparable falling out. After that, Lorena did her best to stay out of the public eye.

Now that she had more free time, Lorena enrolled at the local community college. There, she met a man. And unlike her relationship with John, this one started quietly. At first, they saw each other only as friends. Gradually, it became more than that. They have now been together for over twenty years and have one child, a daughter.

These days, she runs the Lorena Gallo Foundation, a nonprofit focused on domestic violence and sexual assault prevention, intervention, and awareness. She says that she was inspired by the hundreds of letters that were sent to her lawyer during the trial. They made her realize that she was not alone, and that it wasn’t her fault. The organization is her way of passing that message along to anyone who might need to hear it.

Key Takeaways

• Lorena Bobbitt’s actions were a result of years of domestic abuse by her husband, John.
• John Bobbitt’s inconsistent stories and history of violence were key factors in Lorena’s defense.
• The public and media reactions to the case highlighted deep-seated gender biases and stereotypes.
• Lorena’s trial introduced evidence of domestic violence, leading to her acquittal by reason of temporary insanity.
• Post-trial, Lorena focused on healing and advocacy, founding a nonprofit for domestic violence awareness.

Frequently Asked Questions

What did Lorena Bobbitt do to her husband on June 23rd, 1993?

Lorena Bobbitt severed her husband’s penis with a knife while he was asleep.

Why did Lorena Bobbitt throw her husband’s severed penis out of the car window?

Lorena Bobbitt was driving to her nail salon, where she felt safe, and tossed the severed penis out of the window in a moment of distress.

What was the initial reaction of the police when Lorena Bobbitt reported her husband’s abuse?

The police were already aware of issues in the marriage and needed to know where she had thrown the severed penis, as it was found and reattached in surgery.

What was Lorena Bobbitt’s background before moving to the United States?

Lorena Bobbitt was born in Ecuador, moved to Venezuela with her family, and later moved to the United States to pursue her American Dream.

How did Lorena Bobbitt and John Wayne Bobbitt meet?

Lorena Bobbitt and John Wayne Bobbitt met at a military ball at the Quantico Marine Force Base, where John asked her for a dance.

What were some of the signs of domestic violence in Lorena and John Bobbitt’s marriage?

Lorena Bobbitt experienced pushing, punching, choking, and marital rape from her husband. Neighbors and friends also witnessed the violence.

What was the outcome of Lorena Bobbitt’s trial for malicious wounding?

Lorena Bobbitt was found not guilty by reason of temporary insanity and was sentenced to 45 days in a mental hospital.

What did Lorena Bobbitt do after her trial and divorce?

Lorena Bobbitt changed her last name back to Gallo, returned to her job at the nail salon, and focused on her recovery from PTSD. She later founded the Lorena Gallo Foundation to raise awareness about domestic violence and sexual assault.

What was John Wayne Bobbitt’s reaction to the trial’s outcome?

John Wayne Bobbitt was deeply unhappy with the verdict but took advantage of his newfound celebrity status, appearing on talk shows and even starring in a pornographic film.

What was the public’s reaction to the Lorena Bobbitt case?

The public’s reaction was divided along gender lines. Men were mostly horrified, while women had a more complicated relationship to the case, with some seeing it as justice served and others worrying about the implications.

Sources

• Original Into the Shadows video: Her Husband Abused Her. Her Revenge Was Insane.
• Hero image source by openverse, cc0.

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