Woman shuts down man protesting bikinis on Florida beach: 'Sir, it's a beach!'

A woman confronted a man at Jacksonville Beach in Florida after noticing him holding a sign that reads "God says Christian women dress modest." In a now-viral video, TikTok user @.katie.simmons captured the moment she addressed the conservative protester and pointed out the obvious: Are women supposed to cover up at the beach too? The video, which was uploaded to the popular video-sharing platform earlier this week, has already been viewed over 655k times. Several netizens, tired of having patriarchy and religion dictate how they are supposed to dress or present their body, flocked to the comments section to point out the many flaws in whatever logic the protester saw in his beach performance.

The 10-seconds-long video begins by showing a man dressed in what looks like cargo shorts and a long sleeve shirt with the sleeves pushed up, walking by Simmons with the sign pointedly positioned towards her. Referring to the Bible passage 1 Timothy 2:9 — I also want the women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, adorning themselves, not with elaborate hairstyles or gold or pearls or expensive clothes — the sign also urged women to repent and "Turn to Jesus."

"Sir, it's a beach. Are we supposed to dress modest at a beach?" Simmons asked, amused by the man's choice of location for protesting the supposed lack of modesty. "God doesn't want women—" the man began, but the TikToker cut him off before he can finish his sentence. Simmons hit back with a response that's sure to have left the protester speechless for at least a few minutes. "What if God's fake?" she asked him, in what might be the perfect retort to unwarranted preaching. The video, which has gained over 116k likes so far, gave way to thousands of entertaining comments from netizens. Many used their knowledge of the Bible to point out that the man was being rather hypocritical with his beach protest.

"God says Christian men don't look at women lustfully (Mathew 18:9 And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away)," commented TikTok user Aud. A user named Alyssa also pointed out the same, writing: "Jesus also said to gouge your eyes out if you look at a woman lustfully so..." Meanwhile, one TikToker commented that the man was probably at the beach with his sign simply "as an excuse to stare at women without them feeling [uncomfortable.]"

"And God said with his infinite power, 'Dave, the only way to save women in bikinis is if you make a really really good sign,'" a TikTok user named Dez joked sarcastically. "It's like going to a bar and being mad that people are drinking. Like, find a better use [for] your time and let people live," commented another user. "Bro, why do people have the need to push their religion on others like that?" asked Katlynraee. "The Biblical modesty wasn't even about covering up," explained Friendly1arts, "It's about not showing off the fact that you're rich by going overboard with jewelry."