How many of you ladies played with barbies as a little girl? I know I did! How many of you still do?

I was a Barbie girl through and through. I can't remember a time in my childhood in which I didn't exclusively run directly to the Barbie aisle at the store, or run down to my playroom and spend hours playing with Barbie and her 134 friends (yes, I had that many Barbies). Barbie was a huge influence on my childhood, not only as a toy a girl could play with, but something much more.

There's been a lot of appearance-shaming as of late with Barbie. I know that I remember reading articles about how Barbie had an "unhealthy body image for younger girls," and that there were even models made to look like "normal girls."

OK, first of all, how many toys actually resemble people's proportions accurately? Polly Pockets, Bratz Dolls, and even American Girl Dolls are all in the same boat, and yet we somehow chose Barbie as the villain.

Never mind that Barbie had over 150 careers, including being the first female to go to the moon. Never mind that she was an inspiration to women everywhere, that she could be anything. Instead, we've judged Barbie on her appearance, an unfortunate judgement that happens a lot these days.

I never once looked at Barbie as I played in Barbietown and thought, "I don't look like her." Instead, I had every one of my Barbies named with their own personalities, and I developed a real creative imagination. When I used to watch "ALIAS" while playing downstairs, I would play with my double agent Barbies, having all sorts of exciting scenarios for them to partake in, and imagine myself in the future as an undercover agent. Barbietown to me was my favorite creative outlet.

I was forever "that girl who just loved playing with her Barbies." Friends remember me getting excited to play, and how I would shake my legs and cross my eyes because I got so into it. I even took barbies with me on various vacations, for I couldn't imagine having fun without her.

I took my girls to Mexico... Hola!

They went to California (multiple times).

I even brought them to Hawaii with me.

This barbie in particular was lucky to go to Chicago with me..

And of course I took them to visit Grandma in South Dakota.

Barbie was my friend, and she gave me the courage to be who I wanted to be, and I think it's unfortunately turned into a body thing, where we judge a book by its cover. We spend so much time criticizing her looks and how her body type is "unhealthy" but we're just being hypocritical. We, as feminists, say we shouldn't be judged by our appearance, and then we turn around and accuse Barbie and her body.

I'll never hurt Barbie. I still have all my 130+ Barbies and hope that someday my children will play with them as much as I did, because they were such an inspiration in my life. She taught me how endless the possibilities are in life, and that you can accomplish your dreams and become whoever you want to be.

And I'm proud to call myself a Barbie girl, because being a Barbie girl means that you're imagining the possibilities, taking the world by storm, and following your heart's desire.