AN OPEN LETTER TO REESE WITHERSPOON FROM A "MOMMY BLOGGER"

Dear Reese,

I watched your speech at the Wall Street Journal's Innovator Awards where you spoke about sexism in Hollywood. It was an amazing speech but apparently some people were upset with something you said when you spoke about the need for more quality content for women.

You said:

"I don’t really believe that we’ve been seeing the full spectrum of the female experience.... And I’m not talking about mommy blogs and 14 ways to cook a turkey."

That second part is what got people annoyed.

Here's what I think:

I myself am also so sick of the lack of choices women have to choose from in terms of topics for discussion (fashion/cooking/home design/motherhood kinda covers it, right?).

I talk about it a lot on my "mommy blog".

I realize that as a 'mommy blogger' I'm "supposed" to just talk about cooking and laundry but I've never really liked doing what I'm "supposed to" plus, since I am a human being first (and a woman, an actress, a wife, an ex attorney, a chocoholic and many other things), I have a whole bunch of other stuff I like talking about too.

Because here's the deal Reese, I too want to see more content for women, and I want it to be diverse, daring, taboo breaking and not just one dimensional. But at the same time I have no issue with content that includes turkey cooking because guess what? There are a lot of people out there, (women included) who want to know how to cook the perfect turkey.

I also think the role "mommy bloggers" play in the 'content world' is very important - we shed light on and discuss many things a lot of women can relate to and whether or not I like that title (I don't) is irrelevant because I'm pretty sure that's how people would label me anyway.

And isn't our society all about labels at the end of the day?

As a "mommy blogger" I talk about many things including motherhood ,(which lets face it is a big part of a lot of women's lives and there's nothing wrong with that), sexism, sexual abuse, online bullying, body image, relationship and more.

I talk about these themes with one goal at the heart and that is to empower women and bring them together. Whether it is in motherhood, in their relationships, with how they feel about their bodies or any other aspects of their lives.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that while I agree with you that we need more content for women that is not just turkey cooking and mommy tales, I do believe there is room for that too.

So let's not choose.

Let's ADD to the pot instead of saying we shouldn't be talking about things that many women are very interested in talking about.

And let's not imply that what one woman does is more important or meaningful than what someone else is doing.

I choose not to take offence from your comment because as a woman and a feminist I am really grateful that you have chosen to use your platform and voice to promote women. Sadly my articles can't reach a large audience like your films do but I promise you that I am trying my absolute best to make this world better for my daughters, just like you are.

So keep on the good fight and be sure to know that you have this mommy blogger's support.

I'm 100% behind you.

Tova x

Image credit: Reese Witherspoon on Instagram