A Rhode Island man who wrote to a newspaper complaining about women wearing yoga pants said on Saturday his letter was meant to be humorous and he did not have an issue with yoga pants – and even owned a pair.
Alan Sorrentino’s explanation came too late, however, to stop a march through his neighborhood on Sunday afternoon, by women dressed in yoga pants and protesting misogyny and men dictating how women should dress.
Alan Sorrentino told WPRO-AM he had hoped the letter, which was published on 19 October in the Barrington Times, would be enjoyed as a break from the heated rhetoric of the US presidential election.
In the letter, he wrote: “The absolute worst thing to ever happen in women [sic] fashion is the recent development of yoga pants as daily wear outside the yoga studio.
“Not since the mini-skirt has there been something worn by so many women who should never have it on in the first place.
“From casual to formal, weddings, funerals, shopping, and even for the workplace, yoga pants are everywhere on women of all ages, usually paired with a blousy top and a pony tail hairdo. What a disaster!”
Organizers of the protest march did not immediately comment on Sorrentino’s Saturday radio interview, but they had previously said the march was not a protest against him but part of a bigger movement.
On a Facebook page for the event, organizers urged participants not to bring signs or engage with Sorrentino or any other residents negatively.
“Please do not come for a fight, you will be shut down,” one post read.
Sorrentino asked marchers to stay away from his home and said he had received death threats, sharing with the radio station several expletive-laden voicemails. Sorrentino likened the harassment to threats he has received as an openly gay man.
“It’s vicious and intimidating,” he said. “The fact that this is seen as an appropriate reaction to something I wrote in the paper is really disgusting.”
Event organizers were also collecting unused personal hygiene items for the Sojourner House, a non-profit focused on victims of domestic violence. They said they had invited Sorrentino to the march but he “very impolitely declined”.
In his letter, Sorrentino also wrote: “Like the mini-skirt, yoga pants can be adorable on children and young women who have the benefit of nature’s blessing of youth.
“However, on mature, adult women there is something bizarre and disturbing about the appearance they make in public. Maybe it’s the unforgiving perspective they provide, inappropriate for general consumption … or the spector [sic] of someone coping poorly with their weight or advancing age that makes yoga pants so weird in public.
“A nice pair of tailored slacks, jeans, or anything else would be better than those stinky, tacky, ridiculous looking yoga pants. They do nothing to compliment a women over 20 years old. In fact, the look is bad. Do yourself a favor, grow up and stop wearing them in public.”
He added: “What’s next? Wearing a ‘Speedo’ to the supermarket? Imagine if men did that. Yuck!”
In conclusion, Sorrentino wrote: “To all yoga pant wearers, I struggle with my own physicality as I age. I don’t want to struggle with yours.”Read more at:plus size formal dresses australia | cheap formal dresses australia