As a lover of Batman (old school, corny and cliche, Adam West thirty minute tv-series type of Batman lover) from a young age, I've always been obsessed with the DC-Comic Universe and all of its continuities, especially the aspects involving my beloved fictional city, Gotham. And while most girls who "loved" Batman were obsessed with Catwoman, the sultry villainess with a weak spot for Batman, or Wonder Woman, who they believed to be the female-Superman, I always had a soft spot for the Joker's girlfriend, Harley Quinn.

It wasn't because she seemed to be some type of role model. She wasn't. In fact, she was everything that a girl should aspire not to be. She was obsessed with a man who claimed to love her, while trying to kill her every time she made a mistake. She lied to her best friend, constantly, about her relationship with said guy. Even Batman felt bad for her, and tried to help her get away from the Joker and his Stockholm-like hold on her, and she ended up punching him in the face (which was probably one of the reasons I loved her so much, because who, male or female, ever got away with that?). Besides that, she was a successful career woman with an incredible education. And she gave all of that up for a man who drove her literally insane.

Despite the fact that she wasn't a role model, she was still always a favorite. In fact, she was thrown into the first Batman comic off-handedly, just as a way to make a particular plot work and the fans loved her so much that they not only made her a regular in most comic storylines, but she got her own comics, like Suicide Squad or Birds of Prey were she had her own little gang of villains around her. There was something about her from the very beginning that drew people in.

Maybe it was the way that she was just so relatable. While her situation was a high exaggeration, the majority of her abuse from the joker came in mental and emotional forms. Any girl can relate to a constant feeling of just not being good enough. Not being able to give up on a guy who even your best friend tells you is worthless is definitely something that all girls can relate to. And the fact that she was an incredible gymnast with brains and beauty makes her a stereotypical "perfect" girl, with oh-so many flaws.

But, this isn't meant to be a defense of Harley Quinn's character. Instead, it's meant to be a defense for Harley Quinn fans who don't want to give up on the quirky, bubbly blonde just because of her depiction in Suicide Squad or because of her trigger-relationship with Mistah-J.

First of all, for all of those who hate the way that she was portrayed in Suicide Squad, you're taking part in rape culture because you're saying how you don't like her newest costume because it's sexualizing her. Give me one example of a female character in a comic book who isn't overly sexualized.

I'll wait.

Can't think of any? That's because there isn't one. Just because she opted out of the skin-tight court jester costume and threw on something a little more modern-which was done for all of the characters in the movie-doesn't mean that they've ruined her as a character. In fact, they actually made her stronger. She isn't just some silly girl who gets pushed around by the Joker. In fact, she's his queen and the entire plot of the movie on the Joker's end is trying to get her back and save her. But, let's all just talk about how they've defied the role model that Harley Quinn was before this movie, by taking away an abusive relationship and making her a leader. Somebody who knows what she wants and does anything she can to get it. And yeah, there are definitely still some signs of the Joker's abuse towards her (leaving her to drown, for example) but that's just proving that they didn't try to completely rewrite her character. They just made her a strong female lead and if girls want to dress up like her for Halloween and they choose to wear the red and blue spandex shorts with a cropped baseball tea, that doesn't mean that they're looking for an excuse to be naked. It means that they're trying to resemble a strong female role model just like a girl wearing a unitard to dress up as Wonder Woman.

And if you hate her because of her relationship with the Joker, well, that's understandable because I can understand frustration when you see people staying in an obviously dangerous relationship. But, the thing with Harley Quinn's relationship is that it's realistically depicted. She can't leave him because she doesn't want to. She can't leave him, because she loves him. He gives her plenty of freedom in so many continuities of the comics. It's not like he's forcing her to stay. And, would anybody honestly be able to look at the Joker and see him as a doting boyfriend/husband? Yeah, I didn't think so.

So, if you hate Harley Quinn, you hate Harley Quinn. That's fine, but just remember that there are plenty of reasons for why girls like her. And there are plenty of reasons for why girls (even comic-book loving girls) view her as a favorite female character in the DC-Universe. No matter what your problems with her are, don't try to belittle other people for liking her and do not ruin a person's excitement over a Halloween costume just because Harley Quinn is popular and multiple people want to dress up like her. There's no reason to take the fun out of things for other people, just because you don't agree with them.