Dear Alan Sorrentino,
Your hatred for women’s clothing has gone too far. My name is Allison Klein. I am a freshman at Roger Williams University, and I am disgusted with your article about women wearing Yoga pants. While I understand that it is your right given by the First Amendment to publish what you please, it is also my right and duty to defend such Yoga pants wearers from your hurtful comments and opinions.
Even by the title of your article, “Please women, put away the yoga pants.” you are essentially telling women what they can and cannot wear. I have been dressing myself for years, and the only person I let tell me what to wear is my mother. But you telling women ‘what to wear’ is not even the biggest issue with your article. The main issue is the attack on mental health that you are sending
to women and girls across the country.
In your article you write, “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.” You are body-shaming women by saying that yoga pants are only for a particular body type. You also bring up age as a factor by writing that, “mature, adult women” should not wear Yoga pants. Later inyour articles, you place this age at being 20 years old. I myself am approaching the age of 19. In your eyes this would mean that 1. I am not a mature, adult women yet, and 2. I only have a year left to wear yoga pants.
I was raised by two wonderful parents who taught me how to be confident in my own skin, but your words still affected me, and I know they are affecting others. Shaming women for their bodies can cause women to have negative body images. This ultimately can lead to eating disorders, anxiety, and depression. By making your hurtful opinions public, you are further contributing to the impossible social standards young girls already face. In the US alone, 30 million people suffer from eating disorders. Every 62 minutes, one person dies as a direct result from their eating disorder. This is the world we live in. a world were people try so hard to look a certain way so they please people like you, and end up losing their life in the process.
So please Mr. Sorrentino, put away your hurtful opinions. Think about the youth of America when you use your First Amendment right. Think about all the lives lost because of the struggle of trying to please ignorant people like you. Think about how saying certain people shouldn’t dress a certain way because of their body type affects them. Think about how maybe you should use your ability to write to help build people up instead of breaking them down. While we all have unfavorable opinions, publishing yours in a way that makes women question their own self worth is no okay. Please take this all into consideration when writing your next article. Thank You.
Sincerely,
Allison Klein
Roger Williams University 2020
