Bobbitt Rehashed - If Not Reslashed

Yesterday, I referenced the fact that I brought a paper on the John Wayne Bobbitt porn to class for no other reason than I found it during my haphazard search and it tangentially related to whiteness. Still having it in my notebook today, I actually took the time to go back and read it while others were babbling about who knows what (well, I do know what, but I stopped caring) during class.

It was one of those last minute papers that I would do a much better job on were I not trying to do it the day it was due. (I was one of those bad students who procrastinated on watching the porn assigned to him.) Also, with an hour to go, I found out I had to reference the article and racial subject matter, (admittedly, this error was due to inattention on my part,) which required hasty revision. It was never my intention to bring in the white trash element, and truthfully I'm still unsatisfied with having to incorporate that as part of my thesis - I'm not sure it made sense even to me - but given the rather brief, narrowly focused article that I had to work with, I did what I had to do.

The pornography was an embarrassment. Ron Jeremy, perhaps the country's most famous male porn star, directed the film. Apparently, having a huge penis was not satisfying enough for Jeremy; he had to create a film that showed exactly how inadequate a lesser penis could be. According to the article, Bobbitt was not even aware that Jeremy was going to put himself in the film, and was too, well, "white trash" to notice he was being mocked throughout. As I recall, the movie was not arousing, but more of a morale booster to the common man, an opportunity for them to feel good about their own sexual abilities.

As a tribute to my unconventional undergraduate education and an essay that can only be described as hilariously absurd, I've decided to post it in its entirety here. I'm not presumptuous enough to assume you'll read all four and a half pages worth, so I've bolded some of the highlights.

In his ill-conceived pornographic flick John Wayne Bobbitt: Uncut, Bobbitt comes across as a lowlife idiot, or as Constance Penley refers to him in her article “Crackers and Whackers”, “white trash.” The video, directed by Ron Jeremy, seems to intentionally exemplify a derogatory take on Bobbitt’s life. Considering that Jeremy is a former porn-star and well-versed in the industry, certainly his portrayal is intentional. While the coding of the script indicates his inferiority, Bobbitt is depicted as unaware of how ridiculous the whole scenario is, seeming to think his participation in this project is cool. Still, the essence of “white trash” permeates throughout the video, signifying that Bobbitt is to be judged, not heralded.

The Caucasian male audience, for whom this style of pornography is most commonly designed, is not allowed to connect or identify with the protagonist. When Lorena throws the severed penis out her car window and it lands at the feet of a random man, his comment is, “At least it’s not my dick.” The same sentiment is likely echoed throughout the video by the audience. While witnessing his lackluster performance, the understanding that most people could do much better than that prevails.

Primarily, the reason for the lack of relation between Bobbitt and the audience is that Bobbitt cannot easily achieve/maintain an erection like the average male: the best Penley can say of his penis is that it “sort of” (326) works. The amount of effort required for each woman to elicit an erection is remarkable. They spend long amounts of time with little success. For example, after mounting the stripper on the pool table, Bobbitt’s penis promptly slips out of her. Nevertheless, she can be heard moaning, “Oh yeah, that’s it!” Clearly, that’s not it, and once she realizes she is faking more than she even anticipated having to, she redirects his still limp penis into her vagina. In the party scene when he’s confronted with two women simultaneously, he begins to perform oral sex on one rather lazily. When the unoccupied woman asks the other if he’s doing a good job, she replies that “he’s just getting started,” indicating that she’s expecting more to happen, though several minutes later produces no better of a result. As sex writer Susie Bright comments, “This man does not know how to give head to save his life” (327). The inactive woman tries some cheerleading, shouting, “lick that pussy!” to no avail. Furthermore, Bobbitt rarely moves during sex, as if his entire body has been reconstructed, demonstrating a severe lack of knowledge. At one point, he confesses that after the incident he “didn’t know if [he’d] ever be able to… you know.” If he is not comfortable enough to say the words, he certainly is not comfortable enough to perform the acts well.

Though the women act as if they are fully enjoying the sexual experience during intercourse, the confessionals airing afterward reveal a different story, justifying the reasons for their encounters. While Nurse Judy explains that she “saw it as [her] professional duty” to have sex with Bobbitt, the others echo a similar sentiment about being curious to see how it would work. As demonstrated, verifying that it works and having it work well are two separate outcomes. By sharing their motivations, they remind that their curiosities were satisfied, if not their bodies.

Naturally, because this video is pornography, Jeremy, who can be considered the body of experience, steps in to remind everyone how sex, especially in the movies, is meant to be done. With his ability to produce a large erection on cue, perform adequate oral sex, and even ejaculate with confidence, Jeremy “shamelessly upstages” (327) Bobbitt. In doing so, Jeremy is asserting “porn’s expertise” (328), demonstrating that while Bobbitt has reached celebrity status, he is not qualified for this type of work. While Bobbitt is, understandably, never shown having sex with anyone a second time, in a confessional, Jeremy is still accompanied and even thanked by a woman he pleasured earlier. Ignorant to porn conventions and his own inabilities, Bobbitt is pathetic and clearly trash.

In that vein, the video also portrays Bobbitt as disgustingly misogynistic; “the film’s sympathies lie with the wife whose husband thinks marital rape is how a man has sex with his wife” (327). By allowing himself to be shown continuing to have intercourse with his wife who repeatedly asks him to stop, it demonstrates his ignorance to his own horrendous actions. Bobbitt’s lack of understanding toward women in general is further exemplified by his subsequent unimpressive sexual encounters. Being of South American descent, Lorena is exempt from the white trash edit, hence elevating her to a more respectable role than Bobbitt can ever attain, in spite of her shortcomings.

Later, after a pale, blonde nurse jumps atop Bobbitt and begins pleasuring him, a second nurse, an African American, watches from the doorway. At first she appears judgmental, but then seems to derive gratification from her voyeurism, sneaking in the room and masturbating in the corner. The distancing of the black woman from the white trash pairing illustrates an inherent difference between the characters. Also noteworthy, the black nurse is the only female throughout the video without enormous, (and presumably) fake breasts, which further demonstrates her to be the “othered.” Eventually, she joins Bobbitt and the other nurse, but they barely acknowledge her. In fact, the black nurse has to fight to make the event a threesome, stealing licks of Bobbitt’s penis at every free moment she finds and having to resort to reinserting his penis into the white nurse’s vagina when it inevitably falls out. Ultimately, the film suggests that the sole black character can neither participate in these white trash rituals nor should she desire to for that matter.

The white trash inherent in Bobbitt is exemplified by the constant contrast between himself and a classier lifestyle. Bobbitt seems positively out of place at a yacht party and “dating” a supposedly high-profile magazine editor. Additionally, he fails to live up to the expectations of the pair of women sporting red polished fingernails and high heels. The only times that Bobbitt does not seem out of his element are in the traditionally trashy locales, including the strip club when he takes a dancer’s bikini and wears it as if it was a pair of glasses, and the seedy basement with a tacky blinking stoplight.

If that were not enough, to make Bobbitt seem more unappealing, Jeremy allows Bobbitt to appear on several occasions to be uneducated. In addition to referring to himself as “simple,” he uses the phrase “me and Tiffany” only to amend it to the equally grammatically incorrect “Tiffany and me had the same interests.” Furthermore, while reading his narrations, he stammers incessantly. Although additional takes might not have improved his sexual performance any, repeated attempts at his voiceovers could have prevented him from appearing to be functionally illiterate.

In the end, Bobbitt has been humiliated whether or not he realizes it. As Bobbitt recognizes toward the end, “all anyone wants to do is see [his] penis”; once they do see it, they are disappointed, a theme consistent with his entire persona. His embarrassing closing line that he might settle down at some point, but “until that day, let’s party!” shows the extent of his clueless nature about his pathetic, unimpressive lifestyle. Though he has been exoticized because of his sexual difference, the video clearly shows that he is unworthy of this treatment, unable to produce anything exciting. He is a man clearly out of his element that has not earned this opportunity in the spotlight. Lacking the knowledge and anatomy required to make him a legitimate pornographic sensation, Bobbitt is left only with the distinction of being white trash.

Because you're bound to ask: A-