After a local character wrote in to the Barrington Times complaining about the scourge of women in yoga pants, a group of women from the Rhode Island community decided to march to his house for a yoga pants parade. “The parade is not about yoga pants,” organizers wrote on their website, “it is a positive response to casual sexism. It is a march of love of ourselves, and the love and support of each other regardless of size, shape, or wardrobe choice.”
Hundreds of people showed up on Sunday to march to the house of letter writer Alan Sorrentino, though participants insisted it was not an attack on Sorrentino himself. “We will not engage with ANY residents on the street in any negative way,” wrote organizer Jamie Burke. “Please do not come for a fight, you will be shut down.” Burke also said that Sorrentino declined an invitation to join the parade.
Let's do this. #wearwhatyouwant #yogapants @paradeyogapants pic.twitter.com/jgdDkP6wqq
— Delia Kovac (@DeliaKovac) October 23, 2016
Hundreds here to support @paradeyogapants #wearwhatyouwant pic.twitter.com/To3pIOOiZy
— Delia Kovac (@DeliaKovac) October 23, 2016
Yoga pants for all generations. #YogaPantsParade pic.twitter.com/v4YhFYX5k8
— Yoga Pants Parade (@paradeyogapants) October 23, 2016
Ending with yoga poses. Our favorite is goddess! #yogapantsparade pic.twitter.com/EJ2ZBltcxQ
— Yoga Pants Parade (@paradeyogapants) October 23, 2016
In his original letter, Sorrentino claimed that, while cute on children, yoga pants are an outrage on “mature, adult women” or “someone coping poorly with their weight,” and told women wearing them in public that they flat-out look bad. After the backlash, he then told the Boston Globe that the letter “was supposed to be funny,” but that he has received death threats. He also said someone wrote in chalk outside his house identifying him as the resident (though he included his address in his original letter to the Barrington Times). He called this reaction “bullying.”
Well, maybe. But you know what else sounds like insulting, unnecessary behavior? Writing a letter that chastises an entire gender for their sartorial choices because you personally don’t find it attractive.