In a late June edition of the New York Times, an article, titled Heels in Non-Jurassic World, written by Gretchen Reynolds, addressed the issue of Jurassic World’s leading lady, Claire Dearing (played by Bryce Dallas Howard), and her footwear.

From the very beginning of the film to the very end, Ms. Dearing wears high heels without complain. This fact alone caught the attention of just about everyone who saw the movie and the topic itself makes for a pretty awesome news article. The New York Times story focuses on the science of heels and how such footwear can “alter the natural position of the foot-ankle complex and thereby produce a chain reaction of effects that travel up the lower limb at least as far as the spine”.

In other words, wearing heels really hurts and can really screw up the mechanics of our bodies. So, should we laugh at Claire’s silliness or applaud her badassness?

First, let’s look at the literal science behind heels. Newton’s third law of motion states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

So, when walking in heels, a woman’s body weight is concentrated into an area usually no thicker than a straw. This creates an enormous amount of pressure in such a small area of the body which is why wearing heels for such a long amount of time results in foot and lower back pains.

Take, for example, a woman who weighs 60 kg (about 132 pounds) and wears a heel with a width of 1 cm. In terms of pounds per square inch (psi), this equates to about 1,086 psi. This means that there is 1,086 pounds of pressure for every square inch of area that the heel comes into contact with.

According to Newton, this same pressure is then pushed back into the body. In fact, wearing high heels can exert more than fifteen times the pressure of an elephant’s foot.

Now, let’s keep this in mind as we consider Claire Dearing and her heels. Throughout the action movie, she treks through the jungle of Jurassic World, outrunning a bloodthirsty Indominus rex and dodging attacks from raptors while trying to keep her nephews safe.

Probably her most memorable “OMG how did she not trip” moment is at the very end of the film when she has the Tyrannosaurus rex unlocked from Paddock 9 and chase her to a battlefield where the Indominus rex was literally slaying the competition.

Ms. Reynolds from The New York Times, ended her article with a quote from Dr. Neil Cronin, a biology professor at the University of Jyvaskyla in Finland, who said “When attempting to run from a fast-moving, deadly animal, high heels are perhaps the worst choice of footwear possible. Running shoes would get my vote.”

It is a no brainer that if you were to choose between running shoes and high heels when being chased by a dinosaur, running shoes would be the winner.

However, Ms. Dearing had absolutely no say in the matter. It was not as if when she woke up in morning and got dressed she knew that she was going to have to run for her life all day. The true magic in the story is that despite all this, she survived nonetheless and looked fierce while doing it.

So let’s stop criticizing superhuman physics defying ladies and give a round of applause to Claire Dearing, Cat Woman, and Mrs. Gauvin.