4% of the rape complainants with a criminal record had engaged in sexual misconduct (70). About 20% of all reported victims had a "bad" reputation (70). Perhaps some of these "bad" women lied about being raped, but it was also concluded that rapists had assumed that the criminal justice system would not punish them for raping such women. To confirm this reputation a study of gang rape found that the rapists usually select victims known to have a "bad reputation" (70), Prostitution is the most extreme example of evidence that the woman raped was promiscuous. Judges often admit evidence that the rape complainant was a prostitute, on the theory that it relevant on the issue of consent. Juries are often reluctant to convict men charged with raping prostitutes (71). One theory states that since prostitutes are used to indiscriminate sex with strangers, rape does not cause them the anguish that gives the crime its horror and therefore calls for a penalty that is among the most severe in our law. In reality a man who obtains sex by force is guilty of rape even if his victim is a prostitute (71). Although prostitutes are insured to have sex with strangers, the forcible aspect of the assault, and the violation of their autonomy do not necessarily less traumatize them. Mimi Silbert studied 200 juvenile and adult street prostitutes in the San Francisco Bay area. Even though the study excluded rapes by prostitutes' customers, Silbert found that almost 73% of the subjects had been raped, a total of 193 rapes (72). Of these rapes, 71% occurred after the women became prostitutes (72). Not only were prostitutes more likely to be raped than the average woman, a large majority of these rapes (84%) were by strangers (72). In most cases the prostitute-victim suffered some physical injury, and the emotional impact of the rapes seemed to Silbert to be even greater for prostitutes than for other women. Only 19% reported they were raped to the po...
