Feminism, Psychoanalysis, and (Male) Hysteria over John Bobbitt's Missing Manhood

ASU Author/Contributor (non-ASU co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
Martha McCaughey Ph.D., Professor (Creator)
Institution
Appalachian State University (ASU )
Web Site: https://library.appstate.edu/

Abstract: This article draws on feminist theory and psychoanalysis to analyze the media discourse surrounding the 1993 incident in which Lorena Bobbitt severed her husband's penis after he allegedly raped her. Touted as the ultimate example of "male bashing," Lorena's literal emasculation of John was described in the media as a specific instance of feminism's more general emasculation of men. This framing, like castration anxietyitself, reveals the intimate connection of heterosexual masculine identity with the phallusas the privileged signifier of sexual difference and naturalized male power. Male hysteria over the Bobbitt case also illustrates a tired double standard in which isolated cases of female aggression are read as evidence of the routine victimization of White men rather than as evidence of men's power to voice their complaints in the media (while silencing women's) or as evidence of White men's privileged entitlement to sexual invulnerability.

Additional Information

Publication
Grindstaff, Laura, and Martha McCaughey. (1998) “Feminism, Psychoanalysis, and (Male) Hysteria Over John Bobbitt's Missing Manhood.” Men and Masculinities 1:2, pp.173-192. (ISSN: 1097-184X) [Oct 1998] The version of record is available from Sage Publications http://jmm.sagepub.com/content/1/2/173 doi: 10.1177/1097184X98001002003
Language: English
Date: 1998

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