Barbie–a doll nearly every girl grows up playing with. With so many different looks, clothes, and careers, the possibilities for your Barbie are endless, and when you have them, your imagination can run wild. There is nothing that Barbie can't do.

However, people have long critiqued the doll's looks and have been saying "she" and her creators focus entirely too much on looks. A bit hypocritical, eh?

Barbie was created by Ruth Handler in 1959, intending to be a doll that looked like an adult so that children could give her adult jobs, as Handler had already witnessed her daughter, Barbra, doing.

In fact, since then, Barbie has had around 130 careers, including astronaut, presidential candidate, and news anchor. Barbie, of course, has also been in the "traditionally feminine" jobs, as well, such as teacher, nurse, and flight attendant.

The looks of the doll, though, the signature tall, skinny, blue eyed blonde, have been under fire, especially in the last few years. The biggest complaint is summed up best by Time magazine, "her unrealistic body proportions present an unattainable standard of beauty for young girls."

This is not untrue, Barbie's measurements are pretty insane. She has a 32" bust, 16" waist, and 29" hips, while the average woman features 35" bust, 35" waist, and 40" hips.

Mattel, though, has recently announced the upcoming release of dolls with three new body types: petite, curvy, and tall. In addition to the new body types, Mattel has added seven new skin tones, 22 new eye colors, and 24 new hairstyles. The dolls are designed to look more like the young girls who play with them.

While this is super exciting for anyone who grew up playing with Barbies, still play with Barbies, or have children in their lives that play with Barbies, maybe an important thing to keep in mind is, it's a doll.

It is definitely a step in the right direction to teach girls that beauty comes in all shapes, sizes, and colors, but what we really need to be teaching girl is the original message of Barbie, the message that many of us from the Millennial generation grew up with: Be who you wanna be.

Growing up, Barbie taught me that I could be anything, from president to film director to an officer in the military, and still be fashionable. Despite the fact that she looked nothing like me, Barbie was my idol. I hope, through all of the focus on Barbie's looks and her body, that the message that women can do anything (and still look good doing it) is not lost.