Hundreds of women, girls and other supporters proudly donned their yoga pants Sunday afternoon as they peacefully paraded around the Rhode Island neighborhood of a man who derided the attire as tacky and ridiculous.
Alan Sorrentino says that the response to his letter to the editor, printed Wednesday in The Barrington Times, has been “vicious” and that he’s received death threats. He implored marchers to stay away from his home and maintained that the letter was meant to be humorous.
But organizers say the so-called yoga pants parade wasn’t a protest against Sorrentino specifically but instead part of a bigger movement against misogyny and men’s dictating how women should dress.
About 400 people — many of them women and young girls — came out for the social media-driven event in the affluent, coastal town of Barrington, the Times reported.
Many wore yoga pants of varying styles and colors.
They gathered at a school and marched along neighborhood streets, some holding pink signs that said “Peaceful Pants Party.”
They also collected personal hygiene items for Sojourner House, a local domestic violence organization. Marchers ended with a group yoga session on a grassy area by the school.
Sorrentino described yoga pants in his letter as the worst thing in women’s fashion since the miniskirt. He argued that yoga pants belong in the yoga studio and that women over age 20 shouldn’t wear them in public.
Sorrentino said it was particularly “bizarre and disturbing” to see the outfits on “mature, adult women.” He suggested those women wear a “nice pair of tailored slacks” or jeans, instead.
Sorrentino told WPRO-AM the letter was meant to be a humorous break from the current political campaign rhetoric and that he doesn’t really have an issue with yoga pants. He says he even owns a pair.
Organizers said that they invited Sorrentino to their event but that he “very impolitely declined.”
– Article Courtesy NBCNews.com
