Women’s groups and victims’ rights advocates are praising a federal appeals court’s decision on Monday to revive a civil rights suit against police brought by a Northwest Pennsylvania woman who said she was jailed for five days on charges of making a false report after she was raped and robbed at gunpoint.

The ruling in Reedy v. Evanson is important, advocates said, because it rejected antiquated notions of how sexual assault victims should be viewed that were based on myths and stereotypes.