The closest I ever came to living in Barbie's dream house was the Easter my parents bought me a Barbie's Dream House tent. I loved that tent. It was bright pink, a comfortable size and had flowers painted on the windowsill. I sat in it only once, soon after my cousin rampaged through it causing a giant rip in the beautiful windowsill. I wanted nothing more than to live like Barbie and play with her, Skipper, and Kelly inside a tent where everything glowed pink. But playing with a large breasted, tiny waisted doll impacted my expectations for growing up, even if it was only subconsciously at the time. For example, during my sophomore year of high school I wanted to be Barbie for Halloween. I entered many store dressing rooms expecting some combination of clothes to magically turn me into the beloved doll, but only Barbie can live in Barbie's world.

To many, the blonde plastic toy is a lot more than a child's doll. She is a friend, roll model and icon. Children who grow up playing with Barbie toys look at her as the girl who has it all: sisters, friends, trendy clothes, any job she wants, and of course Ken. We can't forget about the Malibu dream house either! Right there in the name, "dream" kids who play in Barbie's land are encouraged to long for life in plastic, something that is simply not feasible.

On Thursday, January 29 Time magazine released their latest cover, Barbie with a new body shape. The doll is now going to be available in four body types: original, tall, petite and curvy. Each style is still considered Barbie. She also features endless combinations of race, hair, and eye colors. In the same Time article Evelyn Mazzocco, head of the Barbie brand concedes, "The millennial mom is a small part of our consumer base, but we recognize she's the future."  

Between campaigns such as #aeriereal and Billboard 100 songs like Hailee Steinfeld's "Love Myself," the millennial generation is making huge strides supporting body positivity. Many celebrities including, but not limited to, Tina Fey, Jennifer Lawrence and Demi Lovato have spoken or written statements encouraging everyone to love the body you're born in. With more body positive options in the world for people to invest in, millennials have started putting their money into products that give back or encourage values the buyer supports.

While millennials are further entering the adult world, we are gaining more power than we realize. As the second largest toy company in the world, Mattel made severe changes to their main product because we believe changes are in order. Kids who play with Barbies will now be able to choose ones who are in closer similarity to themselves and will hopefully be influenced to love themselves for who they are, not how close to Barbie they can be.