Battling The Penis

 

In the early 1900s, women were expected to be obedient, loyal and self-sacrificing wives to their husbands, and to their fathers or brothers before marriage. Most of them complied, probably even finding some kind of relief in taking on traditional female roles. However, some rebelled against societal norms, demanding respect from the men in their lives - or maybe even freedom from what can only be labelled as male suppression. As it is, the main symbol of male power in a Patriarchy is the male member: The penis, which in a weird-looking, but not quite illogical manner, may even attain the status of a "rival" = "He loves his penis more than he loves me" or "he uses it as a weapon against me". That's why the penis has been targeted by women out for revenge, like in the 1990s when Lorena Bobbitt made headlines by severing her sleeping husband's penis with a kitchen knife. Luckily for John Bobbitt his penis was saved by surgery, and to prove that he "still was a true man" with a functional penis, he appeared in two pornographic films. 

Now, WHY would Lorena do something like that to her sleeping husband? Well, she alleged that he had raped and abused her i so many ways for years, and that now she had had enough. After being aquitted by "reason of insanity" Lorena started a foundation for domestic abuse victims and their children. In 1995 she divorced John - or he divorced her, I'm not sure of which, but divorced they were ....

 

However, long before Lorena Bobbitt made headlines another woman, Bertha Boronda, sliced off her husband's penis, and this time there was no saving it by surgery. It was lost once and for all, and she served five years in jail because she was fed up by having to put up with her husband's infidelity, lies, etc.. It seems that he spent time in a nearby brothel, which she didn't accept. That's why she attacked his member with a razor, which made him wake up and escape his infuriated wife. I take for granted that that was the end of the marriage ....

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/30/arts/television/lorena-bobbitt-documentary-jordan-peele.html 

 

Wikipedia