Hundreds of women in the US have taken to the streets their freedom to wear anything they want — by marching for yoga pants.

Dubbed the Peaceful Yoga Pants Parade, women donned their comfy activewear and marched along the streets in Rhode Island.

Jamie Burke, organiser of the parade told RN Breakfast:

“It’s always been about more than yoga pants.

“I wear them, but I’m not passionate about my yoga pants. I am passionate about my freedom to wear whatever the hell I want.”

This came after Ms Burke found a letter to the editor in her local paper last week by a 63-year-old man named Alan Sorrentino, pleading for “mature, adult women” to stop wearing yoga pants in public for they are, according to the author, “disturbing”, “tacky”, and “do nothing to compliment a woman”.

“Not since the mini-skirt has there been something worn by so many women who should never have it on in the first place,” the letter reads.

Ms Burke then responded by taking a photo of the comments and posting them to Facebook. “My friends, far and wide, all responded immediately saying “¦ that’s ridiculous, this is horrible “¦ we need to do something,” she said.

So she posted an event online inviting people to join her for a “Peaceful Yoga Pants Parade” in the neighbourhood where Mr Sorrentino lives.

The Facebook event read:

“This is NOT a hateful protest against Alan. This a wonderful group of people celebrating our bodies and our right to cover them however we see fit. And while yoga pants seem to be a silly thing to fight for, they are representative of something much bigger “” misogyny and the history of men policing women’s bodies.”

A number of days later, women wearing yoga pants marched, passing by Mr Sorrentino’s home with signs that read “WE WEAR WHAT WE WANT” and “LOVE YOURSELF”.

The parade has made it to social media with the hashtag — #YogaPantsParade. Another parade is scheduled for this weekend in Portland, Oregon. “The national and worldwide attention that this has received clearly speaks to the need for us to stand up for our rights,” Ms Burke said.

Learning about the backlash, Mr Sorrentino said that the letter was intended as a joke that was “meant to sound stupid and creepy”, and that the response “” including the parade “” was a “totally disproportionate reaction”.

Yet, Ms Burke said that body shaming and the policing of women’s bodies had been “going on for ages”, and that in 2016, “we should be way beyond it”.

Source: Abc.net.au