If there is one thing on which we
can all agree, surely it’s that there aren’t nearly enough emojis to choose
from when texting, emailing and otherwise communicating on our electronic
devices ☹. Who hasn’t scrolled through the staggering number
of faces, shapes, animal figures, food items, vehicles, sports accoutrement,
hearts, religious symbols, flags, and assorted other gewgaws and doodads and
thought to themselves, “damn, I can’t find exactly what I need just now?”
Thankfully, new emojis are added
every year 😊. Finalists for this year’s crop include the
“Pregnant Person” and “Pregnant Man” emojis (at least one of whom sports a
mustache), according to Emojipedia. Emojipedia’s blog noted that these
candidates would compliment the existing (if unexciting) “Pregnant Woman” emoji
and would "recognize that pregnancy is possible for some transgender
men and non-binary people.”
There are other candidates,
of course, including “Person with Crown,” a gender-inclusive alternative to the
stodgy old existing “Princess” and “Prince” emojis. “Melting Face,” a yellow
smiley face pooling in mid-melt, came in first in a fan-voted poll of this
year’s most anticipated potential emojis, conducted prior to July 17th,
World Emoji Day, garnering 13.7 percent of the vote. “Pregnant Man” came in a
respectable sixth, capturing 5.3 percent of the vote. (“Melting Face” can
represent extreme heat or be used metaphorically to imply embarrassment, shame,
or a slowly sinking feeling of dread.)
Emojis have become
increasingly inclusive
over the years. Several years ago, a “Breastfeeding
Woman” was added, the head of the baby hidden to avoid the
potentially controversial situation of having the skin tone of the baby
necessarily correlate to the skin tone of the mother/woman.
The list of potential
emojis is not yet final. The Unicode Consortium, a nonprofit organization that
oversees emoji standards across all devices, will approve new additions on
September 14th. Each emoji is subject to change prior to that date. Rollout of
the exciting new symbols will occur in the weeks and months thereafter.
The “Pregnant Man” emoji
is a step in the right direction, but much more needs to be done. If we really
wish to be inclusive, we need to introduce “Woman with Penis,” “Republican with
Balls,” and “Pig with Wings” emojis. Right? 😉
No comments:
Post a Comment