In 1993, Lorena Bobbitt cut off her husband’s penis in the middle of the night and threw it in a ditch. Unfortunately, the hospital where John was admitted reattached his organ.
Afterward, this man gained fame and profit off his misfortune. He sold t-shirts, received donations, appeared on TV and radio stations, and he was even a judge for a beauty pageant. He received all these benefits from his penis being chopped off.
Men sympathized with this man. He was a victim laying helpless and drunk in the night. What could he have possibly done to deserve the severe punishment?
His brother admitted to searching for Lorena after this happened in all intentions of killing her. Evidently, a couple of hours of a removed penis is justified by taking a woman’s life.
Back then, everyone found out the side of the husband’s story. Everyone wanted to know why she did it and if she should pay for her crime. Millions of people across the country and around the globe followed the court hearings to find out what would happen to Lorena.
Would she get deported? Would she go to jail for 20 years? Is the husband the true victim, or was it Lorena?
At first, people thought it was because Lorena’s husband would not give her an orgasm. That is what she said when someone first asked her.
Lorena is a Venezuelan-American. She did not speak English when she first arrived in the United States from South America. Her English was okay at the time, but it is not easy to answer questions in another language when one is under stress.
Lorena is finally getting to tell her side of her story to the public in an Amazon Video four-part documentary series titled “Lorena.” In four hour-long episodes, she now gets to share the story of her battle with domestic abuse and marital rape.
Executor producer Jordan Peele is helping Lorena tell the world the life she endured. Many people came together to testify against this rapist. Friends, family, former co-workers, neighbors and Whoopi Goldberg share what they knew of the situation.
Lorena wanted to hurt her husband in the worst way possible and take away his dignity and prized possession. She wanted to get rid of the thing which was causing her the most harm.
The years of physical, mental and sexual abuse drove her to mutilate her attacker. After getting beaten, verbally attacked, raped both vaginally and anally, she cracked.
When the public found out about this event, men were scared, and women were cheering for Lorena. Women felt as if they were living vicariously through her. Many woman have been in a situation of sexual assault or harassment. While women’s claims are often dismissed, especially in the 1990s, women felt as if Lorena did the one thing everyone else wanted to do.
This court case was the battle of the sexes: her word versus his. Men believed the husband, and the women believed Lorena.
There were two court cases. One for the counter-sue against the husband for domestic abuse in which he was found not guilty. The main reasoning was lack of evidence and Lorena’s attitude.
Some days Lorena would come to the court showing herself as a strong woman, and other days she “played the victim card,” one juror from the documentary stated. Clearly, the juror believes a woman cannot be both a victim and a strong woman. The domestic abuser and rapist was found not guilty.
Many believed Lorena’s trial would not go well, considering her husband pleaded not guilty. The rapist’s lawyer tried to settle the case out of court with Lorena going to jail for a few months and many years of probation.
Lorena did not want to get charged with a felony because she was not guilty. She decided to continue with the hearing because she wanted to become a U.S. citizen. Lorena took a risk in a patriarchal society to become an American.
This documentary goes in detail of Lorena’s life before, during and after interactions with this disgusting man. “Lorena” can be streamed anytime on Prime Video and is free for anyone who has Amazon Prime.
‘Lorena’ tells the ignored narrative of domestic violence
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