The Bobbitt Case and the Quest for A Good-Enough Penis

“Mr. President, will the operation be covered?” Vice President Gore asked, as White House senior staffers gathered in the Oval Office to discuss which medical procedures to include in the health care proposals. “What are you talking about, Al?” Clinton asked. “You know, the, ah, penile reattachment.” “I'll check,” said Clinton, picking up the phone. “Honey?” Clinton said into the phone and proceeded to explain Gore's concern about John Wayne Bobbitt's medical costs. After a pause, the First Lady concluded that having a penis was a preexisting condition and therefore could be covered as corrective — rather than cosmetic — surgery.

Lorena Bobbitt, who sliced off John Wayne Bobbitt's penis after he had passed out following a late-night episode of allegedly coerced sex, may have performed a disservice on her husband; but she performed a remarkable service for the psychoanalysis of sexual discourse. And although her action was undoubtedly enacted within the intricately private dynamics of the married couple, it quickly became transformed into a public enactment, looping through such hotly contested spheres as feminism, culture theory, and psychoanalysis, thereby prompting transgressions of forbidden words in mainstream media and an unprecedented outpouring of jokes, cartoons, and sexual satire.

Previously, castration had never been nearly so funny; in fact, castration had rarely been funny at all. At best, there had been a discreet tradition of castration humour shared among consenting adults around intimate dinner tables. Such a specimen recently made the rounds of analysts:

It seems an American tourist in an Asian country had been so sexually indiscreet as to incur a severe venereal disease. Its worsening condition panicked him at the prospect of returning home, and he

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sought remedy in several reputable clinics as well as in some less so. Alas, the prognosis was universally pessimistic. Finally, he was referred to an ancient Chinese with a repu