New 2021 emoji Pregnant Man proposal means almost every icon is gender inclusive
Almost every emoji now has a gender neutral option, with a man or woman choice available if relevant
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A pregnant man emoji has been proposed to the range of icons used on smartphones, tablets, and computers, according to a draft list published by the Unicode Consortium.
The new emoji is to “recognize that pregnancy is possible for some transgender men and non-binary people”, Emojipedia states.
More gender-inclusive alternatives, including ‘person with crown’ as an alternative to ‘prince’ and ‘princess’, have also been added – meaning that nearly all emojis can have a default gender neutral option, with choice to use a woman or man where relevant.
Other new emoji include a hand with an index finger and thumb crossed, which is a finger heart gesture popular with K-Pop fans, as well as a change to the face with a hand over its mouth which looked like it was laughing on other platforms but looked shocked on iOS devices, and a handshake emoji with multiple skin tones.
There are other additional faces, including “peeking eye”, “holding back tears”, “saluting”, and a smiley melting.
There are also 20 new icons, including coral, biting lips, nests, beans, a glass of water spilling, a playground slide, a crutch, an X-ray and an empty battery.
The final list of emojis are yet to be confirmed for the version of Emoji 14.0, but is likely to resemble the draft list, and no new emojis will be added. “There’s always a remote possibility of a change or removal ahead of September,” Emojipedia says.
Although release dates for emoji vary by operating system and manufacturer, it is likely that early emoji support will be rolled out in late 2021, and the majority of updates will take place in the first half of 2022.
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