Apparently, #WorldEmojiDay was July 17th. To mark the very important holiday, Emojipedia shared a list of the draft characters the Unicode Consortium is considering for the rollout of new emojis version 14.0, making their way to smart devices starting in late 2021.
Drafts of the new emojis have social media users confused, defensive, outraged, disgusted and more. Emojipedia.org writes of the candidates, “other inclusions on the draft list are consistent gender options for pregnancy and royalty, ‘heart hand’, and the ability to choose from 15 different handshake combinations” of varying skin colors.
While it was “only a draft emoji list” and “each emoji is subject to change prior to final approval in September 2021” there are just some things we cannot unsee. One emoji is a “Person with Crown”, a “gender-inclusive alternative to the existing emojis for Princess and Prince.”
Then you have the “Pregnant Man and Pregnant Person” which “are new, and recognize that pregnancy is possible for some transgender men and non-binary people. These are additions to the existing Pregnant Woman emoji.”
The new additions mean “that nearly all emojis can have default a gender-neutral option, with choice to use a woman or man where relevant. A few exceptions remain.” The responses to the Twitter account @Emojipedia tweeting “Emoji 14.0 is to be finalized in September 2021. Here’s on the latest draft list.”
Amongst the vast range of responses, twitter users commented, “some emojis we just do NOT need.” Another wrote, “do people really use all this representation emoji? I never used a white guy emoji, or a job one, a ‘got my degree one’ or any other thing that represents me. I wouldn’t even know where to sue them without looking like an idiot unable to write.”
The “Pregnant Man” and “Person” have caused extensive reactions sparking a commenting storm to one user asking, “Since when do men get pregnant????” One emoji defender responded, “it’s crazy how many people don’t understand that trans men exist and need representation, and as some trans men choose to get pregnant, this is a great way of not excluding them.”
Others wrote, “why are the men pregnant,” “is that men? And pregnant?” “the fertile dad emoji” and “I know y’all didn’t with these pregnant men. Seriously.”
