Are the judicial odds stacked against female rape victims? According to Oscar-winning actress Helen Mirren, the answer is "yes."

Mirren, who previously said she’s been the victim of date rape, sparked a national debate when she told England’s Sunday Times this weekend that attorneys for men accused of rape often stack the jury with ladies because "women would go against women."

Mirren speculates that "sexually jealous" women may tend to blame their peers for a rape. Said the actress: "In a rape case the courts — in defense of a man — would select as many women as they could for the jury, because women go against women. Whether in a deep-seated animalistic way, going back billions of years, or from a sense of tribal jealousy or just antagonism, I don’t know. But other women on a rape case would say she was asking for it. The only reason I can think of is that they’re sexually jealous."

Mirren’s remarks sparked outrage among many women, including Solicitor General Vera Baird, who insists that juries are chosen at random and called Mirren’s comments "absurd" and "ignorant":

"This is just such an ignorant thing to say, to suggest that the defense or prosecution have any involvement in the selection of a jury. It’s just absurd. First of all, it’s completely factually incorrect. It shows an absolute lack of knowledge about the way the criminal justice system works. I do not know what she is talking about, women hating women. This is a vast generalization based on nothing, but unfortunately it is likely to have a deterrent effect."

Because of Mirren, suggests Baird, women will be unlikely to come forward after being raped. While Baird contests Mirren, Campaign to End Rape’s Sandra McNeill agreed with the actress, and even described her theory as a "well-known fact," before adding, "I think from the start of the police investigation right through to the jury, it’s all trying to find a way to discredit the woman."

Whether Mirren’s onto something or not, the burden of proof is often on the woman to prove she was raped. That said, the woman is not always necessarily discredited. Readers need to look no further than the infamous Duke rape case, in which a girl accused three lacrosse players of gang rape. The students’ names were subsequently dragged through the mud, but later exonerated after the original prosecutor was found to have acted inappropriately in a "tragic rush to accuse."

This whole debate has us wondering, reader: Do you think that women are more inclined to blame other women for being raped? Why, or why not? Discuss …