Lorena Bobbitt: New docuseries about woman who cut off husband’s penis
Lorena and John Bobbitt court photos shown side by side after wife cut off husband’s penis.
American couple John and Lorena Bobbitt hit headlines in the 1990s after Lorena cut off John’s penis. She claimed it was in retaliation to years of abuse.
Amazon Prime Video’s new four-part docuseries Lorena, by executive producer Jordan Peele, revisits the American scandal. It questions the truth behind Lorena Bobbitt’s story, and why she cut off her husband’s penis.
Lorena Bobbitt had cut off her husband’s manhood on one night in 1993. John Bobbitt had been sleeping at the time.
Dr. James Sehn and a team of surgeons later reattached the penis in a nine-hour operation.
“This was a modern love story. Boy meets girl. Boy falls in love with girl. Boy marries girl. Girl cuts off boy’s penis.”
—Lorena trailer narration
The case went to court, and in her defence, Lorena claimed that her spouse had been severely abusing her for years, including rape and sodomy.
It was that degree of abuse that had apparently pushed Lorena over the edge to dismember John.
The story was on everyone’s television sets, and the press painted the wife to be a national joke, according to the new Amazon Prime Video series.
Dr. James T. Sehn holds a photo of the severed penis of John Wayne Bobbitt, which his wife had previously sliced off, during the second day of the malicious wounding trial of Lorena Bobbitt in the Prince William Circuit Court in Manassas, VA, 11 January 1994. Dr. Sehn and a team of surgeons reattached the penis in a nine-hour operation. (POOL/AFP/Getty)
“This was a modern love story. Boy meets girl. Boy falls in love with girl. Boy marries girl. Girl cuts off boy’s penis.” That is the succinct narration from Amazon Prime Video’s trailer for the docuseries.
The Prime Video docuseries has real-life interviews with Lorena today as she recalls the events from her past and explains exactly why she cut off her husband’s penis.
“She wanted me to hurt. That’s why she did this.”
—John Bobbitt
But it’s not only her side of the story you hear. John is also interviewed in the series and in the trailer, he says: “She wanted me to hurt. That’s why she did this.”
John Wayne Bobbitt points during testimony on the sixth day of his wife Lorena Bobbitt’s malicious wounding trial at the Prince William Courthouse in Manassas, VA 19 January 1994. (POOL/AFP/Getty)
It delves into what John said about the incident, witnesses of the domestic abuse and the court hearing. Who did the jury believe?
Watch the trailer of Lorena, Amazon Prime’s new docuseries about the Bobbitt scandal:
While the series appears to sympathise with Lorena’s story, viewers aren’t so easily swayed with almost half as many dislikes as likes on the released trailer.
Mixed views about whether to sympathise with the woman who cuts off her husband’s penis
There are many people who aren’t happy with the docuseries Lorena as they believe it ‘glorifies the perpetrator.’
On the YouTube trailer, the top comment wrote: “Genital mutilation = Women’s rights…wtf Amazon?”
Lorena Bobbitt cries as she testifies about the night she cut her husband John Wayne Bobbitt’s penis off, 14 January 1994 on the fourth day of her malicious wounding trial in Manassas, VA. (POOL/AFP/Getty)
Another user wrote: “So she mutilates the guy and we are meant to feel sorry for her or something???”
Lorena Bobbitt attends the Film Independent Presents “Lorena” at ArcLight Hollywood on February 06, 2019 in Hollywood, California. (Tommaso Boddi/Getty)
However, Twitter users, who have watched the documentary, believe that the series has an important message.
One user wrote: “the new Lorena Bobbit docuseries on Amazon is such an important look at domestic violence and the treatment of sexual assault victims in America. The different perspectives of men and women on the case says it all.”
the new Lorena Bobbit docuseries on Amazon is such an important look at domestic violence and the treatment of sexual assault victims in America. The different perspectives of men and women on the case says it all.
— Dr. Marissa Bolin (@rissabolin) February 27, 2019
And another said: “I finished the Lorena Bobbitt docuseries on Amazon. I was way too young when this happened but damn, this poor woman. The media did her so wrong back then, I hope they’re all ashamed of themselves.”
