 It bears noting that successful rape prosecutions depend not only on how rape is legally defined but, at least equally importantly, on the general public’s willingness to believe women’s testimony (rather than seeing them as lying or confused) and to recognize particular encounters as instances of the applicable legal definition (that is, to see this behavior as force, or this utterance as expressing nonconsent). Also posing a challenge to successful prosecution is what Estrich calls the “assumption of risk approach to culpability”: the common belief that, as she puts it, “women who put themselves in compromising positions shouldn’t complain when they are compromised” (1992, 10). The continuing prevalence of such rape-supportive beliefs can render even well-intentioned prosecutors unwilling to pursue legitimate cases, given the likelihood that juries will refuse to convict.