What Mrs Bobbitt did next

Lorena Bobbitt's story is the stuff of barrio legend, proof that in America grit and guile can still bring golden opportunity.

As an Ecuadorian immigrant, Bobbitt got hers when she cut off her husband's penis in a rage. The husband was John Wayne Bobbitt, perfectly named for his subsequent role as male hero of White Trash culture.

Her defining act took place on the steamy Virginia night of June 23, 1993. Lorena was 23, newly minted as an American by marriage. John Wayne was 26 and had been discharged from the Marines.

Both became instant celebrities. Even as surgeons stitched Bobbitt's penis back together - police found the severed half by the side of the road - a new word went into