Lorena Bobbitt, the infamous “penis slicer,” believes the public no longer views domestic abuse as a “punchline.” In the 30 years since she shocked the nation and inadvertently tapped into every man’s secret fear of losing his “manhood,” people have come to see it for what it is: violence.
In 1993 she cut off her husband’s penis with a kitchen knife while he was asleep. She claimed that the knife attack occurred minutes after her husband, John Wayne Bobbitt, drunkenly returned to their Manassas, Virginia home and raped her. The case received international press coverage and sparked a national conversation about domestic violence at a time when it was still seen largely as a personal and intimate issue that people kept hidden.
She was arrested on June 23, 1993, and charged with malicious wounding. She was released on bail the next day. During the trial, Lorena Bobbitt claimed that her husband had repeatedly sexually and physically abused her. The jury found Lorena Bobbitt not guilty due to temporary insanity caused by years of abuse.
Lorena Bobbitt was born in 1970 in Quito, Ecuador. She is an actress and has appeared in several documentaries about the case.
The tragic incident turned Lorena Bobbitt into a national joke. She had become a macabre household name. The story provoked passionate reactions from men and women around the world. In the years after the Bobbitts made national headlines, much of the discourse surrounding the case took the form of crude jokes, often painting Lorena Bobbitt as a bitter, unhinged predator. It actually took many years and a lot of changes in societal attitudes for her claims of assault at the hands of her husband to be taken seriously.
Lorena–who now goes by her maiden name Gallo–told the Daily Mail this week that since that infamous night that became a headline maker across the country, people now understand the gravity of domestic violence.
“I believe people’s views on domestic violence have changed over the years,” she said.
“With the advancement in technology and how the news is relayed through many different sources, it’s helped people understand the seriousness of it and they don’t look at it as a punchline,” she added.
John Bobbit was also prosecuted after he was charged with marital sexual assault.
Gallo previously told the Today Show she had no regrets over chopping off her ex-partner’s penis.
“How can you regret something that was not planned?” she said in the 2019 interview.
“You have to understand, I wasn’t in my right mindset.”
John told the Daily Mail this week his side of things was never properly told.
“No one ever investigated my story property and got an accurate reporting,” he said. “Pretty much everyone got it wrong.”
He later launched a porn career.
Gallo told the Daily Mail her husband has not tried to contact her in years.
