Apple should add every possible permutation of living entity and state of being. That way no one is limited in the way they communicate. Bring on the angry golfer, drunken Santa, and the firefighter with gastroenteritis.
The feature that is woefully missing is the ability to filter out emoji you will never use. By continuing to add story after story, they are creating an unusable application. It's unhelpful to tap the emoji icon and have 20,000 options to sort through.
I agree, there’s no need in being aggressive towards some foolish emoji, but I would ask Unicode consortium, why we still don’t have male versions of a woman in a chador or a breastfeeding woman. Let’s make all the icons universal for all the genders, since it’s all about Unicode symbol combinations, and there’s no option to block illogical images such as a bearded woman or a man in a bride’s dress. ;-) Let’s add a drag queen emoji above everything, why not? And after that someone tells that no one pushes any agenda?
A well written article, thanks for taking the time to write this.
Let’s hope that those disparaging of this subject don’t have children who play with Lego. I dread to think what they’ll do if their kids make a character that isn’t heteronormative…
The human race has been successful because of our ability to empathise and care for our communities and fellow humans. Most of the harm caused has occurred when we suppress our care and start fighting based on ideological paradigms. Most wars are the result of Religious conflict, for example.
Outrage does not cause change, outrage causes conflict. It’s the ability for others to care and have empathy, which causes healthy, lasting change.
Take a breath all, there is enough suffering that needs our energy. An emoji, as I see it, depicting a social construct of a gender being pregnant is a lovely thing that shows some of us care about other human beings, whether technical coincidence or not.
I enjoyed the read and whilst I can understand why people are fuming about the illogical nature of it all, I now appreciate how we came to be where we are with this pregnant man emoji. I'm also sure it is only a matter of time before this makes its way into a Youtube documentary!
Pregnancy has nothing to do with gender -- so that makes this especially ludicrous.
That is:
Gender is a mental constuct. It's how a person perceives and feels about themself.
Sex is a wide ranging set of physical characteristics from the pitch of the voice to the width of the hips (and of course what resides between the legs and on the chest).
Efforts to eliminate gender distinctions are mostly all good and constructive.
Efforts to eliminate distinctions of physical sex are mostly misguided.
[While a transsexual can have a penis replaced with a vagina (and vice versa) and have breasts added or removed, those are mostly superficial rather than real change. While they can and do provide much needed comfort to the person (because it's hard to feel feminine if you look more like Donald than Ivanka), they did not actually change the inherent sex because the inherent sex is created by decades of sex hormones that produce permanent changes in almost every part of the body -- from the brain to the feet]
In short:
Efforts to erase gender distinctions are good.
Efforts (like this one) to erase sexual distinctions are silly (like this one).
Pregnancy has nothing to do with gender -- so that makes this especially ludicrous.
That is:
Gender is a mental constuct. It's how a person perceives and feels about themself.
Sex is a wide ranging set of physical characteristics from the pitch of the voice to the width of the hips (and of course what resides between the legs and on the chest).
Efforts to eliminate gender distinctions are mostly all good and constructive.
Efforts to eliminate distinctions of physical sex are mostly misguided.
[While a transsexual can have a penis replaced with a vagina (and vice versa) and have breasts added or removed, those are mostly superficial rather than real change. While they can and do provide much needed comfort to the person (because it's hard to feel feminine if you look more like Donald than Ivanka), they did not actually change the inherent sex because the inherent sex is created by decades of sex hormones that produce permanent changes in almost every part of the body -- from the brain to the feet]
In short:
Efforts to erase gender distinctions are good.
Efforts (like this one) to erase sexual distinctions are silly (like this one).
George, say I mostly agree with you about use of language (for now, as I said the future's coming really really fast).
You still haven't explained why any of that matters. After all, there are cases where people with male gender (using your nomenclature) still are of female sex (again, using your nomenclature), and become pregnant. There's your emoji.
You also haven't explained why it matters if something is real or not. Unicorn emoji...
Pregnancy has nothing to do with gender -- so that makes this especially ludicrous.
That is:
Gender is a mental constuct. It's how a person perceives and feels about themself.
Sex is a wide ranging set of physical characteristics from the pitch of the voice to the width of the hips (and of course what resides between the legs and on the chest).
Efforts to eliminate gender distinctions are mostly all good and constructive.
Efforts to eliminate distinctions of physical sex are mostly misguided.
[While a transsexual can have a penis replaced with a vagina (and vice versa) and have breasts added or removed, those are mostly superficial rather than real change. While they can and do provide much needed comfort to the person (because it's hard to feel feminine if you look more like Donald than Ivanka), they did not actually change the inherent sex because the inherent sex is created by decades of sex hormones that produce permanent changes in almost every part of the body -- from the brain to the feet]
In short:
Efforts to erase gender distinctions are good.
Efforts (like this one) to erase sexual distinctions are silly (like this one).
George, say I mostly agree with you about use of language (for now, as I said the future's coming really really fast).
You still haven't explained why any of that matters. After all, there are cases where people with male gender (using your nomenclature) still are of female sex (again, using your nomenclature), and become pregnant. There's your emoji.
You also haven't explained why it matters if something is real or not. Unicorn emoji...
As I did explain: Gender is a mental construct. Sex is a physical thing. You can have the physical characteristics of a female and feel and perceive yourself to be a male. (and vice-versa of course)
But society tends to conflate the two: that sex and gender are simply synonyms for the same thing.
(And, those physical characteristics cover far more than a couple sexual parts. Decades of sex hormones impact and permanently impact and shape almost every part of the body.)
I as someone who self-identifies as “Non-binary” welcome the addition of the pregnant man emoji. Why should someone born biologically female who comes to the knowledge that the “gender, “ that was imposed on them at birth by society is not the one they identify with and who transitions to a male identity but still carries the ability to become pregnant and give birth be denied the opportunity to see themselves acknowledged in an emoji! Trans men and woman accept that their biological sex is not changeable, but as I have already mentioned earlier “gender” is a label applied by society, just as he/she, her/him, and his/hers mean nothing because they are labels and nothing else! As someone born to very forward thinking parents I was not immediately taken to the “boys toys” section of the toy store when we visited one, I was given the choice of toy or toys that I wanted the most and allowed to choose from both the “boys toys” & “girls toys” sections equally. Those with small minds are often irrationally enraged by small things and a pregnant man emoji is definitely a small thing… As someone who identifies as Non-binary I live my life expressing both the make and female aspects of my personality. I say well done and thank you to those responsible for introducing the pregnant man emoji.
Gender and sex (as a noun) are not the same.
If you let society determine how you feel and perceive yourself, you are not being true to yourself at all.
Gender is not something somebody assigns to you but how you feel and perceive yourself.
Gender is an internal mental construct, not an external societal one. Neither is it a set of physical characteristics. Nor is it determined by how long your hair is or what you wear.
A doctor merely observes physical characteristics in a newborn and classifies it based on those physical characteristics. He doesn't "assign" anything -- especially gender because he'd have to be a mind reader to do that.
Conversely A male football player wearing a wig and a dress is still a male football player wearing a wig and a dress. He didn't change his gender because he changed his clothes.
Yes, society can push you into acting as one gender or another based on your sexual characteristics. But, it is up to you how you feel and perceive yourself -- and how you express it (or not).
I as someone who self-identifies as “Non-binary” welcome the addition of the pregnant man emoji. Why should someone born biologically female who comes to the knowledge that the “gender, “ that was imposed on them at birth by society is not the one they identify with and who transitions to a male identity but still carries the ability to become pregnant and give birth be denied the opportunity to see themselves acknowledged in an emoji! Trans men and woman accept that their biological sex is not changeable, but as I have already mentioned earlier “gender” is a label applied by society, just as he/she, her/him, and his/hers mean nothing because they are labels and nothing else! As someone born to very forward thinking parents I was not immediately taken to the “boys toys” section of the toy store when we visited one, I was given the choice of toy or toys that I wanted the most and allowed to choose from both the “boys toys” & “girls toys” sections equally. Those with small minds are often irrationally enraged by small things and a pregnant man emoji is definitely a small thing… As someone who identifies as Non-binary I live my life expressing both the make and female aspects of my personality. I say well done and thank you to those responsible for introducing the pregnant man emoji.
Gender and sex (as a noun) are not the same.
If you let society determine how you feel and perceive yourself, you are not being true to yourself at all.
Gender is not something somebody assigns to you but how you feel and perceive yourself.
Gender is an internal mental construct, not an external societal one. Neither is it a set of physical characteristics. Nor is it determined by how long your hair is or what you wear.
A doctor merely observes physical characteristics in a newborn and classifies it based on those physical characteristics. He doesn't "assign" anything -- especially gender because he'd have to be a mind reader to do that.
Conversely A male football player wearing a wig and a dress is still a male football player wearing a wig and a dress. He didn't change his gender because he changed his clothes.
Yes, society can push you into acting as one gender or another based on your sexual characteristics. But, it is up to you how you feel and perceive yourself -- and how you express it (or not).
My understanding is male and female refer explicitly to physical properties. Gender is more culturally related. Man and woman have a cultural origin.
Pregnancy has nothing to do with gender -- so that makes this especially ludicrous.
That is:
Gender is a mental constuct. It's how a person perceives and feels about themself.
Sex is a wide ranging set of physical characteristics from the pitch of the voice to the width of the hips (and of course what resides between the legs and on the chest).
Efforts to eliminate gender distinctions are mostly all good and constructive.
Efforts to eliminate distinctions of physical sex are mostly misguided.
[While a transsexual can have a penis replaced with a vagina (and vice versa) and have breasts added or removed, those are mostly superficial rather than real change. While they can and do provide much needed comfort to the person (because it's hard to feel feminine if you look more like Donald than Ivanka), they did not actually change the inherent sex because the inherent sex is created by decades of sex hormones that produce permanent changes in almost every part of the body -- from the brain to the feet]
In short:
Efforts to erase gender distinctions are good.
Efforts (like this one) to erase sexual distinctions are silly (like this one).
So do you believe that the pregnant man emoji should or should not exist. It seems like if a person is biologically female but has the physical appearance of a male, then they may wish to use the pregnant person emoji that they identify with the most. Would you agree?
"Pregnant man" and "pregnant nonbinary person" are actual real-world things that happen. They exist. Sure, they're uncommon, but they are absolutely 100% real world people.
To not intentionally not include them would be incredibly bigoted.
Trans women are women. Trans men are men. Right wing nutjobs are easily offended snowflakes.
unless it's a special case, all emoji should be gender-neutral by default
You mean like the yellow smiley face they started with? I went through your explanation of why and came away convinced of one thing. They are putting WAY too much time and effort into this. They have taken a cute system of putting some emotional context in a text message and kept adding until it's a bloated monstrosity. The vast majorety of emoji's are almost never used. What's more it has become a block to successful communication rather than a help. Somebody sends me a string of Emoji and I just trash the message. I have better things to do than to try to decipher what they're trying to say. You want to tell me something, use words.
They should never have gone beyond the original non racial, genderless smiley faces and such they started with.
Comments
The human race has been successful because of our ability to empathise and care for our communities and fellow humans. Most of the harm caused has occurred when we suppress our care and start fighting based on ideological paradigms. Most wars are the result of Religious conflict, for example.
I DEMAND JUSTICE!!
They should never have gone beyond the original non racial, genderless smiley faces and such they started with.