For one group of women, their beach day in Marsh Creek State Park, Pennsylvania, took a dark turn when they noticed a middle-aged man lingering nearby, discreetly pointing his phone in their direction. And yes, he was taking pictures.
The confrontation that followed, posted to Instagram by @culture.20, is rightly stirring anger. In the video, a woman approaches the man, calmly but firmly, and accuses him of photographing her friend without consent. The man, awkwardly seated in a beach chair and wearing a Penn State hat, denies everything. Seconds later, he can be seen fiddling with his phone, seemingly deleting something. He claims he was “just chilling.”
But she doesn’t back down. “I have video of you doing it,” she says, calling him out in real time. Her tone doesn’t waver. She doesn’t raise her voice. She doesn’t have to.
I’ve watched the clip more times than I’d like to admit. And what strikes me isn’t just the man’s predatory behavior but the way he tries to flip the narrative, saying he feels uncomfortable, as though being caught violating someone’s privacy makes him the victim. It’s a play as old as time: deny, deflect, disappear.
Eventually, he does exactly that. He picks up his folding chair and walks off.
Now, to be clear, legally speaking, taking photos of people in public spaces often falls into a gray area. There’s no expectation of privacy at a state park, and no laws were visibly broken. But what’s legal and what’s right are not always the same thing. And when a grown man is secretly snapping pictures of young women in swimsuits… then lying about it… well, that’s not just “creepy.” It’s predatory.
Even more frustrating is how powerless victims can feel in these moments. As one Reddit commenter pointed out, “If you’re in public, people can take photos of you… cops won’t do shit.” And that’s what makes this woman’s decision to confront him all the more significant. She flipped the script. She put him on the defensive. She gave other women watching permission to do the same.
Unfortunately, stories like this aren’t rare. They’re just rarely filmed. The video ends without any police intervention, and it’s unclear whether the man was ever identified. But internet sleuths are already at work, and the footage alone may be enough to ensure he doesn’t try it again, at least not around Marsh Creek.
