The Pentagon announced yesterday that they would be taking sexual assault in the military more seriously. The question is: why should we take them seriously? The US military hasn’t exactly been a bastion of understanding and action when it comes to sexual assault.

But looking at the policies that the Defense Department plans to implement gives me some hope. Some.

A sexual assault response coordinator will be appointed at all American military installations, but this coordinator will most likely be a colonel or another high-ranking officer. Ok, but what kind of training will they have? Wouldn’t it be more efficient to have someone who actually has worked with sexual assault victims before?

Another progression in the policy is that there will now be “one set of definitions of what constitutes sexual assault for all services,” as well as consistent procedures for dealing with the victim and the perpetrator. (Before, each military branch had its own program that handled sexual assault the way they saw fit.)

I’m happy that steps are being taken to remedy the atrocious standard (or non-standard) that the military has stuck to concerning sexual assault. Really. But given the poor history, I’m just slightly apprehensive…I guess only time will tell.