If you open Facebook or Instagram these days, you will see that there is a Netflix doc that is being meme’d to death. The name of the movie is Unknown Number: The High School Catfish. And if you’ve never seen it, the memes will fly right over your head.
The movie is directed by Skye Borgman of Abducted in Plain Sight fame and tells a story that is as upsetting as it is shocking. We are introduced to Lauryn Licari, a teenage from the tiny and mostly white town of Beal City, Michigan, and her then-boyfriend Owen McKenny. The pair begin to get increasingly offensive and harassing text messages from an unknown number at the height of the pandemic in 2020.
Lauryn is told in these messages that she is ugly and no one likes her. They escalate and get to the point where she is told to kill herself. This goes on for two years until the police discover the shocking person who is behind the messages.
OK. Let me just say now that if you’ve not seen the film, you should watch it immediately. It is well made, and the twist at the end is well worth the price of admission. From this point forward, I will spoil what happens so read on at your own risk!
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Turns out that the person who has been sending these messages is Lauryn’s own mother. In a shocking scene, the teen’s mother (whose name is Kendra Licari) tries to explain why she did what she did instead of fully taking responsibility for what happened and apologizing.
Ultimately, Kendra pleads guilty to two counts of stalking a minor and is ultimately sentenced to serve 19 months to five years in prison. Really, what she got was a slap on the wrist.
The whole time watching the film, I could not help but be struck by one thought: What would have happened if Kedra were Black?
To my eyes, it looks like Kendra is treated with kid gloves because she is a white woman living in a mostly white town whose judge happens to be a white man. Had she been Black and the circumstances were similar, I am not saying she would have been thrown in jail for the rest of her life, but she would not have been out in less than two years like what ended up happening to the former Mrs. Licari. (Her husband divorced her not soon after it all came out.)
Watch Unknown Number. It is riveting television; plus, it shows how being a white woman has its privileges.
The post When White Women Go Catfishin’ appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Lawrence Ware.
Lawrence Ware | Radio Free (2025-10-10T05:47:24+00:00) When White Women Go Catfishin’. Retrieved from https://www.radiofree.org/2025/10/10/when-white-women-go-catfishin/
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