“His wife seized his prize and cut it to size”: folk and popular commentary on Lorena Bobbitt.
The writer analyzes the folklore—informal or traditional communication that arises out of a shared aesthetic and is transmitted through dynamic processes of social interaction—related to the cases of John Wayne Bobbitt, who was accused and acquitted of the rape of his wife, and Lorena Bobbitt, who w...
| Published in: | NWSA Journal Vol. 8; pp. 1 - 36 |
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| Format: | Article |
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Johns Hopkins University Press
Fall96
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| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=507525778&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 507525778 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 10400656 NWS jtl: NWSA Journal issn: 10400656 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Fall96 vid: 8 pid: 226 pub: Johns Hopkins University Press artinfo: ui: 507525778 10.2979/NWS.1996.8.3.1 ppf: 1 ppct: 35 formats: tig: atl: “His wife seized his prize and cut it to size”: folk and popular commentary on Lorena Bobbitt. aug: au: Pershing, Linda su: Bobbitt, Lorena Mass media & society Attitudes toward sex Feminist criticism Penis Wit & humor Actions & defenses (Law) sug: subj: Mass media & society Attitudes toward sex Feminist criticism Penis Wit & humor Actions & defenses (Law) Bobbitt, Lorena keyword: Bobbitt, John Wayne -- Humor, satire, etc. Bobbitt, Lorena -- Humor, satire, etc. ab: The writer analyzes the folklore—informal or traditional communication that arises out of a shared aesthetic and is transmitted through dynamic processes of social interaction—related to the cases of John Wayne Bobbitt, who was accused and acquitted of the rape of his wife, and Lorena Bobbitt, who was charged with “malicious wounding” for cutting off her husband's penis. She examines the cultural politics embedded in expressive responses to the Bobbitt cases, with her goal being to discern the underlying messages conveyed by different types of Bobbitt-humor and to demonstrate how Bobbitt-lore provided diverse groups of people with a vehicle for commenting on identity politics and social relations as they are defined by ethnic, class, and gender differences. She suggests that through Bobbitt-related humor and folklore, people reified, explored, and criticized social relations between men and women and a range of other problems, including ethnicity, class commentary, the politics of gender, violence against women, and women's refusal and retribution. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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