‘Pregnant man’ emoji after criticism from trans activists for lack of representative symbols

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A pregnant man emoji is expected to be featured after an argument over transgender portrayal in phone symbols.

The icon has been offered alongside a host of other more inclusive symbols that will be released by the Unicode Consortium, the organization that oversees the world’s official emoji index.

In addition to the pregnant man, the updated list will for the first time include mixed handshakes as well as new hand gestures with different skin tones.

The inclusion of a pregnant man emoji comes after the organization has come under heavy criticism in recent years by trans rights activists for its lack of representative symbols.

In 2018, many pointed out that there was an emoji for a lobster but not yet for the transgender flag. The consortium introduced the flag last year and has since introduced new symbols to ensure there are gender-neutral options for all facial and human icons, including a non-binary version of Santa Claus.

In the final installment, Unicode revealed that it plans to release an icon in the next update of a man with a mustache cradling a pregnant belly.

Emojipedia, the benchmark website and voting member of the Unicode Consortium, said the new pregnant emoji recognizes “that pregnancy is possible for some transgender men and non-binary people.”

“It remains to be confirmed which emojis are in the final Emoji 14.0 release. The final version will likely look like this preliminary list, and no new emojis will be added at this point,” Emojipedia said.

The final list of approved emoji will be announced in September and should be made public in 2022.

The list sets out the blueprint from which tech giants, such as Apple and Google, design emojis that appear on their devices.

The new emoji list project also includes for the first time a coral icon, which Emojipedia says was a common symbol around the climate change discussion, and is joined by a range of new versions of the popular emoji at yellow face, including a melting face, a face that greets, a face that holds back tears, and a face that can’t bear to look.

A low battery, ID card, mirror ball, and biting lip icons also appear on the list.

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