Have you ever felt marginalized by the lack of gender diversity on your iPhone? Do you believe the current list of emojis just isn’t enough to express yourself via text? Well, the answer to your concerns may be coming.
A proposal to include transgender emojis has been introduced and could be available to iPhone users in the coming months.
Paul D. Hunt, a member of the Unicode Consortium’s Emoji Subcommittee, submitted the proposal late last year and the idea made it to the Unicode’s “Emoji Version 5.0” list. The proposed emojis include a child, adult, and older person who show “gender inclusive visual attributes.”
In a recent blog post following his proposal, Hunt suggests there is scientific consensus regarding gender identity spreading across a “continuum” and that sexual identities can be as numerous as human eye color (reality check: no such scientific consensus exists). He did point to a study that concludes half of millennials view gender identity this way. Hunt explains our modes of communication need to evolve along with our culture. Including emojis that don’t fit the binary descriptions of masculine or female identities does just that, he argues.
To those eager for the chance to express themselves more creatively with transgender emojis: no specific release date has been set. However, a decision may be made extremely soon and trans emojis could be available as early as mid-2017.
