Pregnant man and gender-neutral ‘person with crown’ emojis could be coming to a phone near you
The pregnant man and pregnant person emojis. (Twitter/@boohoo)
A pregnant man and a pregnant person are among the emojis up for approval this year in new batch released by Emojipedia today.
The new update, Emoji 14.0, features a male and gender-neutral version of the familiar pregnant woman emoji, which shows a mother in profile with her hands clasped over her belly.
The announcement comes just before World Emoji Day on 17 July, and the new offerings promise to make the current list far more inclusive and affirming.
Each emoji is subject to change prior to final approval in September. In order to get an emoji approved, creators must submit a proposal explaining why the new image is necessary and distinct from existing options.
“One’s sex does not dictate the capacity to care for children in the home or work in the market. In the same way sex equality law has aimed combat harmful sex stereotypes, there are a great deal of parallels regarding how one’s sex does not dictate the capacity to carry children,” reads the proposal for the pregnant man emoji.
It states that this is “not a new phenomenon,” noting that pregnancy has been indiscriminate of gender throughout history, but this is only now being formally recognised.
“The British Medical Association advises to use ‘pregnant people’ instead of the stereotype term ‘pregnant woman’. And, although ‘a large majority of people who have been pregnant or have given birth identify as women’, there are intersex men and trans men who get pregnant,” it continues.
“But this proposal goes beyond gender… encoding people emoji with swollen bellies embraces how people repurpose emojis for entirely new uses. Finally, an emoji to denote that uncomfortable feeling after you ate too much at lunch.
“The point is: this emoji isn’t just about gender,” the proposal concludes. “This is about understanding how language is fluid and representation of a person with a swollen belly has value as an emoji expression.”
If approved, this new batch of emojis will go live on a majority of platforms sometime next year.
New iPhone emojis? Yes please ? pic.twitter.com/SeHMi9JhRz
— boohoo (@boohoo) July 15, 2021
Other inclusions on the draft list are a biting lip, mirrored disco ball, heart hands, a dotted line face for when you “just want to be left alone,” and a handshake with 15 different combinations of skin tones.
Alongside the existing king and queen there is also the addition of a person wearing a crown to represent “the general concept of royalty as a symbol for status without being overly specific to their gender.”
You can cast your vote for the one you’re most looking forward to in the Most Anticipated Emoji award, with the winner set to be announced on World Emoji Day.
