Somaly,

You are the reason I’m in New York right now.

One day, two summers ago, I was surfing the web when I came across the “Half The Sky” documentary, in which you were featured. On a whim, I watched it. You left me completely captivated. Your story was unbelievable (but the kind of unbelievable that made you think, “wow, I want to change this!” not “hmm, she might be lying”). I started researching everything I could about sex trafficking. I read “Half the Sky” and “The Road of Lost Innocence.” Consequently, I enrolled in my first Women’s Studies course, “The Politics of Sex Work.” That course is the reason I’ve chosen to become involved in the Duke Women’s Center. My involvement in the Women’s Center is why I chose to apply to Moxie.

So you see, in this bizarre and convoluted way, you are the reason I’m here.

Imagine my shock, then, when I found out you were a fake. A few weeks ago, my dad forwarded me an NPR podcast. I read the headline, “Activist Icon Resigns, As The Threads Of Her Stories Unravel. Who could it be, I wondered. Never in a million years could I have guessed that you, known for telling “your story” with what seems like such emotion and honesty, are a liar.

You claim that you were trafficked into sexual slavery at a young age, escaped prostitution by marrying a Frenchman, and then rescued thousands of girls from similar situations. It’s a horrific but inspiring story.

The only problem? It’s not true.

After years of research and travel throughout Cambodia, Newsweek Writer Simon Marks concluded that your stories simply don’t fit together. What’s more, several of the girls you claim to have “rescued” have revealed that you coached them and convinced them to lie. Critics have called you a “psychopath” and a “narcissist,” some even going so far as to compare you to the pimps from whom you have supposedly rescued thousands of girls.

But, even though what you did was undeniably wrong, I can sort of understand why you did it.  In only one week working in the development office of a nonprofit, it’s become incredibly clear to me that money is the backbone and decision-maker for most charity work. But you went too far in trying to get that money, and, in doing so, you actually undermined your mission. Now, instead of focusing on the issues, people are focused on your personality and lies. Each year, 4 million people are trafficked, and 2 million of those are girls between the ages of 5-15. In the USA, the average age of entry into prostitution is 13, and that number is even smaller in other areas of the world. Amnesty International defines the tactics used by traffickers – isolation, threats, and forced drug use, for example – as psychological torture. But you have taken this very real and horrifyingly pervasive issue and made it about yourself.

There’s a phenomenon in social psychology known as the identifiable victim effect. It refers to people’s tendency to be more moved (and thus more likely to give money!) by personal stories than by data and analysis. This effect is particularly strong when the victim is attractive, is articulate, and has a “rags to riches,” inspirational story, like you claim to. It’s even more convenient when the victim can appeal to donors’ fantasies about rescuing beautiful women from the Third World. Clearly this strategy worked for you…for a while.

But it’s still wrong, and here’s why: First, nonprofits are reliant on the trust between donor and recipient, and you, as one of the world’s most prominent activists, completely shattered that trust. Second, your drama has distracted us all from what we should be focusing on: the persistence and pervasiveness of sex slavery. Third, you’ve cast doubt on those of us (and we do exist) who fight violence against women with integrity and truth.

Sincerely,

Katie M. Becker
Disappointed Former Admirer and Honest Activist