A friend of mine actually knows Lorenna personally and says that she is an incredibly kind-hearted and sincere woman. I think each of their actions since the "incident" speak volumes about who they are as human beings, and further validate her not-guilty verdict. It's so great to see someone take their past victimization and convert all of the horror of what happened to them into advocacy for other victims - what an amazing legacy.
@Helen Skor: I agree. I'm not sure how much I love the "irresistible impulse" defense, but I've got to say, 15 years later it looks like the jury got it right. How they've both spent the last 15 years is very telling.
And they were both very good looking people in the 90's, but holy shit, the difference in their appearances now is crazy! Life has not been kind to John Bobbit.
The idea of martial rape is absolutely terrifying to me. I can't imagine allowing yourself to be so open and so vulnerable only to be so horribly abused.
I really wish she hadn't done this. I was really pleased when she appeared on Oprah and was adamant about not initiating contact with him or responding to his attempts to contact her. I'm a little disillusioned that she agreed to do an interview with him, on TV.
@LolaQuinn: I agree! I'm thinking she just wanted/needed the money, and that perhaps she thought it would bring even more attention to domestic violence issues, because people would watch if they interviewed together.
But at least from this teaser, it seems like the Insider really took the tacky/sensationalizing route...
@LolaQuinn: $$$ apparently won out over her senses and morals. With today's economy, I'm not suprised. But, if it were me, and I have gone through 13 years of spousal abuse, I would not do this. She is feeding into his insanity and making it OK. He will never be truly sorry for what he has done, so why bother?
@Mrs. Stephen Fry: I can't believe SHE'D be in the same room with HIM! I get the impression that Mr. Bobbit is skeezy enough to do anything for a buck...
I was living in Virginia when this happened, and it was a good moment for feminism. Not for the obvious reason--rapist gets his dick cut off--but because it focused much-needed attention on marital rape and battered-woman syndrome (she was found not guilty because of temporary insanity resulting from the abuse. Numerous witnesses backed her claim of domestic violence).
Lorena Gallo handled herself courageously and gracefully through the whole ordeal and went on to help women who had suffered similar abuse. She's a real heroine, IMO.
IMO it's a hangover from Bush Administration power trips and their ilk. (We had 8 years of them, remember.) When a fish begins to stink it starts at the head.
@greengrey: Hard to say. I don't think VA at that time was a particularly progressive place legally or culturally (I was born and raised there, so I'm not gratuitously slagging on it).
I think the big difference is that this happened before the 24-hour news cycle and internet saturation coverage. It would have been even more grossly sensationalized and overblown today. Not sure that would necessarily lead to more victim blaming or not...
@BeckySharper: I don't now about VA, but I was talking more about the national response. We hardly have sympathy for rape victims, and I feel if a woman did that to a man now, men would be yelling about "men's rights" and claiming if "she were a man, she'd be in jail".
As @Ionic: said, it's strange (because I have the feeling too) that the 80's/90's were a much better place for women than now. Although (I hope) that now we're just feeling a backlash.
@greengrey: People blamed her back then, before the trial, and some probably still do. She was most definitely portrayed as a crazy evil bitch for quite some time in the media.
So, things have maybe not changed much but I don't think we've gone backwards. Yet.
@Ionic: Well, these things tend to go in cycles. The 1920s, 30s, and part of the 40s were (relatively) great years for women, but then from the late 40s to the early sixties, women were encouraged to be housewives and mothers-- women often went to college and/or got jobs just to meet a man to marry. Then in the mid-sixties, women realized en mass that they were unhappy and rebelled against the housewife role. It will get better, eventually.
P.S. Not to say that being a housewife is unrewarding, but many women had no other choice available to them.
@happysquid: @greengrey: Why do you say the '80s and 90s were so much better? In the 80s women were significantly less represented in government and there were a lot fewer women in grad/law/med school. There was no Fair Pay Act, there was no flex time or discussion of work-life balance. There were many fewer women in management positions in the private sector...
Outside the US, there was very little public awareness of sex trafficking and other human rights atrocities against women in other parts of the world. There were significantly fewer female leaders in other nations, too.
@birminghamdrunk: I saw the porn he did (the only porn I've ever watched, in fact) and it was so nasty. The money shot looked like he was squeezing a tube of toothpaste. Kind of ruined porn for me.
And now, a break from all of the crazy media circus things we're covering to bring you a update of a crazy media circus you may fondly remember from the 90's.
There was a documentary about John a few years back about how he went from doing porn to bankruptcy to trucking to bankruptcy and various other jobs and sleeping on couches at friends houses (and skeeving out their wives) and it was fucking depressing and gloomy.
@Kali Mama: By all accounts, the guy sounds like an ass anyway, but I do imagine it'd be hard to put your life back together when you'll forever be known as "the guy who got his dick chopped off."
@mbprice: Oh yeah, I mean in the sense that this man is never going to get any humanity awards. And looking at the court pictures and him now, the hard living is showing.
And you can't really tell from that short clip but there's this lack of empathy or remorse behind his eyes. His first reaction to the claims of rape and stalking is an emotionless face and denial.
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Also, it must be said: She looks FANTASTIC!
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And they were both very good looking people in the 90's, but holy shit, the difference in their appearances now is crazy! Life has not been kind to John Bobbit.
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But at least from this teaser, it seems like the Insider really took the tacky/sensationalizing route...
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Also, I get very sad when I bring it up and people have no idea what I'm talking about.
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Lorena Gallo handled herself courageously and gracefully through the whole ordeal and went on to help women who had suffered similar abuse. She's a real heroine, IMO.
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IMO it's a hangover from Bush Administration power trips and their ilk. (We had 8 years of them, remember.) When a fish begins to stink it starts at the head.
05/04/09
I think the big difference is that this happened before the 24-hour news cycle and internet saturation coverage. It would have been even more grossly sensationalized and overblown today. Not sure that would necessarily lead to more victim blaming or not...
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As @Ionic: said, it's strange (because I have the feeling too) that the 80's/90's were a much better place for women than now. Although (I hope) that now we're just feeling a backlash.
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So, things have maybe not changed much but I don't think we've gone backwards. Yet.
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P.S. Not to say that being a housewife is unrewarding, but many women had no other choice available to them.
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Outside the US, there was very little public awareness of sex trafficking and other human rights atrocities against women in other parts of the world. There were significantly fewer female leaders in other nations, too.
I'll take where we are right now, thanks.
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The answer is, not good. And it doesn't work particularly well.
Karma's a bitch.
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had to friend you for that, btw.
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We most emphatically do not. Trust.
05/04/09
Rent this:
[www.imdb.com]
Wait, don't. Lemmy Kilmeister from Motorhead has the best cameo - picks up severed penis off of ground, and throws it.
Cumming soon to DVD (NSFW audio):
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i'm actually not so sure i want to see it anymore after the most lovely description above by bklyn155.
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Oh, a magical union has happened today...
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And you can't really tell from that short clip but there's this lack of empathy or remorse behind his eyes. His first reaction to the claims of rape and stalking is an emotionless face and denial.