Now you can discuss your periods with this new emoji
In the new iPhone update, you can now discuss your periods and menstruation using the new blood emoji. After a campaign by Plan International UK, the Unicode Consortium has introduced the emoji as part of its new update which includes 230 new emojis.
iPhone users can now talk about menstruation using the new period emoji. The new emoji - a drop of blood - can be used to talk about periods, blood transfer and more and is available in the new iOS 13.2 update rolled out last week by Apple.
The blood emoji was introduced following a campaign by global women’s rights charity Plan International UK which was supported by more than 55,000 people. The charity ran a social media campaign with #PeriodEmoji to destigmatise periods. The campaign to introduce an emoji was led to normalise conversations about periods and break the shame and stigma girls and women face when they talk about periods.
Plan International conducted a survey of girls and women aged between 18 and 34 out of which 47 per cent believed that a period emoji would would make it easier for them to talk about periods with their friends and partners. NHS Blood and Transplant along with Plan International UK submitted the emoji to Unicode.
Unicode, the coding consortium after seeing the massive response to the campaign decided to introduce the period emoji in its latest Emoji 12.0 update in March. The period emoji is part of 230 new emojis released by the consortium earlier this year, which includes gender-neutral characters, hearing aids, guide dogs and wheelchairs, different cultures and relationships. This new pack of emojis aims for inclusivity and provides wider representation and visibility that will help start conversations.
Carmen Barlow, digital strategy and development manager at Plan International UK said, “Emojis play a crucial role in our digital and emotional vocabulary, transcending cultural and country barriers. A period emoji can help normalise periods in everyday conversation. For an organisation like Unicode to recognise that menstruation should be represented in this new global language is a huge step towards breaking down a global culture of shame around periods.”
Even though the emoji would make conversations about periods more accessible, Lucy Russell, head of the charity believes, “An emoji isn’t going to solve this, but it can help change the conversation. Ending the shame around periods begins with talking about it”.
“For years, we’ve obsessively silenced and euphemised periods. As experts in girls’ rights, we know that this has a negative impact on girls; they feel embarrassed to talk about their periods, they’re missing out, and they can suffer health implications as a consequence,” she added.
(Edited by Rekha Balakrishnan)
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