Yoga pants were the topic of a letter that sparked immediate backlash and a parade in defense of the attire after a man wrote to discourage women from wearing the pants in public.
On Wednesday, the Barrington Times published the letter to the editor written by Alan Sorrentino, who wrote that women over 20 years old should refrain from wearing yoga pants because they don’t compliment them well.
Sorrentino’s letter received immediate backlash, sparking a protest where 300 women and some men held a parade and wore yoga pants as they walked past Sorrentino’s Rhode Island home, Ask Men noted.
"From causal 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!" the letter read. "…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 woman over 20 years old. In fact, the look is bad. Do yourself a favor, grow up and stop wearing them in public. … To all yoga pant wearers, I struggle with my own physicality as I age. I don’t want to struggle with yours."
The man’s letter even sparked protest participation from someone who would usually avoid them.
"I don’t get involved in much in the way of protests and marches and all of that, but this just brought me out because the guy’s letter was offensive," Ellen Taylor told the Boston Globe on Sunday. "It’s OK if you’re 20 and gorgeous to wear yoga pants, but don’t do it if you’re older and lumpy and bumpy?"
Sorrentino said he wrote the letter in jest, but has received death threats since the letter was made public, US Magazine reported.
"I assumed the character of this grumpy old man that was railing about women in yoga pants because he was too tight to just relax and accept himself in his age and his own ways. It was meant to sound stupid and creepy," Sorrentino told WPRO’s John DePetro over the weekend. "I have no problem with yoga pants. Wear them all you want!"
The controversy drew attention on Twitter.