BARRINGTON, R.I. – A Rhode Island man who penned a letter to a newspaper complaining about women wearing yoga pants says it was meant to be humorous and he doesn't have an issue with yoga pants. He even owns a pair.
Alan Sorrentino tells WPRO-AM he had hoped the letter published Oct. 19 in the Barrington Times would be enjoyed as a break from the current political campaign rhetoric.
But the letter generated a huge outcry and a group of women say they'll parade through Sorrentino's neighborhood Sunday afternoon dressed in yoga pants.
Sorrentino is pleading with marchers to stay away from his home in Barrington.
He says he's received death threats, sharing with the radio station several expletive-laden voicemails. Sorrentino likened the harassment to threats he's received over the years as an openly gay man.
"It's vicious and intimidating," he said Saturday on WPRO-AM. "The fact that this is seen as an appropriate reaction to something I wrote in the paper is really disgusting."
Organizers didn't immediately comment on Sorrentino's radio interview.
But they've stressed the march is not a protest against Sorrentino but part of a bigger movement against misogyny and men dictating how women should dress.
On a Facebook page created for the event, they've 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," a recent post read.
At the event, organizers are also collecting new and unused personal hygiene items for the Sojourner House, a Rhode Island nonprofit focused on domestic violence. They added that they've invited Sorrentino to the march but he "very impolitely declined."
In his letter to the editor, Sorrentino argued that yoga pants belong in the yoga studio and that it was "bizarre and disturbing" to see the outfits on "mature, adult women." He suggested women wear a "nice pair of tailored slacks" or jeans instead.
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