The federal government is broadening its definition of “rape” to include male victims, Attorney General Eric Holder announced on Friday. The federal government says the new definition will help officials collect more comprehensive statistical reporting of rape across the country. 

This is the current definition of rape, first established in 1927: “The carnal knowledge of a female forcibly and against her will.”

The new definition of rape will be: “The penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim.”  

Susan Carbon, director of the Justice Department’s Office on Violence Against Women said in a statement that the revised definition sends “an important message to the broad range of rape victims that they are supported and to the perpetrators that they will be held accountable.”