NEW YORK, July 5 (Reuters) - The hotel maid who accused Dominique Strauss-Kahn of sexual assault filed a libel suit against the New York Post and five of its journalists on Tuesday for calling her a prostitute.

A front-page headline that said "Maid cleaning up as 'hooker'" and other statements branding her a "working girl" were false and the Post should have known that they were false, the lawsuit said.

The statements subjected the maid to "humiliation, scorn and ridicule throughout the world by falsely portraying her as a prostitute or as a woman who trades her body for money," it said.

The Post said in a statement: "We stand by our reporting."

The articles were published between July 2 and 4, in the days after prosecutors revealed problems with the maid's credibility as a witness in the case against the former IMF chief. Strauss-Kahn, who has denied the charges, was released from house arrest on Friday as the case against him appeared to unravel.

In her lawsuit on Tuesday, filed in New York state court in the Bronx, the 32-year-old Guinean immigrant sought damages, to be determined at trial, for the articles.

The Post reported on Saturday that the Sofitel housekeeper "was doing double duty as a prostitute, collecting cash on the side from male guests." An article the following day reported that the housekeeper "continued to work as a prostitute in a Brooklyn hotel where she was stashed by prosecutors."

The articles were published "in an apparent desperate attempt to bolster its rapidly plunging sales," the lawsuit said.

The woman used only her initials, not her full name, in the lawsuit. U.S. media have withheld her name in keeping with the practice of reporting on sexual assault cases, though her name has been widely reported in France.

Even if the criminal charges are dropped, the court could allow the libel suit against the Post to proceed anonymously, said Suzanne Goldberg, a professor at Columbia Law School and co-director of the school's Center for Gender & Sexuality Law.

"A judge has to make the exception to allow a plaintiff to proceed anonymously, but in very sensitive cases, a judge can decide to do so, because taking away anonymity can cause more injury to a plaintiff," Goldberg said.

"That would make sense here, where the woman appears to have done all that she can -- including moving out of her home -- to keep her identity out of the media," she said.

The complaint was filed by Kenneth Thompson and Douglas Wigdor, two of the lawyers retained by the maid.

The libel case is N.D. v. NYP Holdings, Inc. et al, New York Supreme Court, Bronx County, No. 305953-2011.

For the plaintiff: Kenneth Thompson and Douglas Wigdor of Thompson Wigdor.

For NYP Holdings: Not immediately known.

(Reporting by Noeleen Walder and Jennifer Golson)