She's not "built like a man". She's a professional athlete.

The real fitspo: powerful, strong and muscular.

When it comes to the female form, popular culture generally looks to emaciated, fragile, waif-like models for inspiration.

Powerful, strong and muscular female bodies are criticised as too ‘manly’ to be beautiful.

But these are the bodies working to their full potential. Sculpted, fit, lean and robust, they achieve physical feats most of us could only dream of.

The owner of one of those bodies – mixed martial arts champion Ronda Rousey – recently hit back at body-shamers who have labelled her as too masculine.

“If people say my body looks masculine or something I’m like, listen, just because my body was developed for a purpose other than f–king millionaires, doesn’t mean it’s masculine,” Rousey said.

Related:  Meet the woman who’s been called the “Mike Tyson of Mixed Martial Arts.”

“I think it’s femininely badass as f–k because there’s not a single muscle on my body that isn’t for a purpose.”

Those muscles, which reflect countless hours of training and dedication, are what helped Rousey win 11 out of 12 Ultimate Fighting Championship fights in the first round – and many of them within the first minute.

With those toned arms, she won the UFC title, knocking out her opponent in 34 seconds flat.

That’s the kind of amazing body we should be celebrating.

Tennis player Serena Williams – holder of 21 Grand Slam singles titles and ranked number one female player in the world – is constantly accused of being “built like a man”.

Even JK Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series, stepped in to defend the relentless negativity surrounding her athletic body last month.

.@diegtristan8 “she is built like a man”. Yeah, my husband looks just like this in a dress. You’re an idiot. pic.twitter.com/BCvT10MYkI

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) July 11, 2015

Closer to home, Olympic basketballer Liz Cambage, tennis sensation Sam Stosur and various female Aussie swimmers have all been likened to men at one time or another.

Our elite female athletes face constant pressure to not only excel in their field, but to look like Miranda Kerr while doing so, and that pressure has consequences. Rousey has spoken of her battle with anorexia and Williams about her past struggles with her body image.

When it comes to the popularity of female athletes, like many other professions, appearance is an important factor.

Anna Kournikova and Eugenie Bouchard are household names on the tennis circuit, despite their comparative lack of success, simply because they are beautiful by traditional standards. They are lithe, lean and don’t have the defined muscles of some other athletes.

Just like in the real world, athletes’ bodies come in all different sizes.

It’s just time we focused on the remarkable feats these bodies can achieve, rather than admiring how well they fit into a short dress.

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