The Unicode Consortium just approved 72 new emoji that will be added to phones, including one that has been conspicuously absent for quite some time: the bacon emoji! But what about that pitch to include more gender-diverse emoji for depictions of jobs, like policewomen or female construction workers? Yeah, uh, that pitch got rejected. But hey! Bacon!
You can peruse the full list of recently added emoji on the Unicode Consortium’s website; the list features a lot of cool new additions, most of which are way better than bacon anyway. Adding bacon seems almost a decade too late, given how long the internet has been obsessed with that particular breakfast food. So, clearly the emoji are behind when it comes to memes and gender diversity. But they’ve managed to add at least a few cool new emoji.
For example, there’s going to be an actual shrug emoji, which means you can use that instead of typing out “The Shruggie” every time. There’s also a crossed fingers emoji, which is useful either for saying good luck or to jokingly indicate to someone that you’re lying. There’s even a face-palm, which seems like a valuable addition to virtual discourse.
It’s still depressing that many of the new emoji featuring people in action poses don’t appear in include options for women. There are both feminine and masculine versions of a new emoji called “person doing cartwheel,” but the wrestlers, the water polo, the handball, and the juggler emoji all appear to feature dudes. Arguably, these could be women with very short hair, but the water polo emoji all feature shirtless guys, and that’s definitely not what women are allowed to wear to a pool. Plus, there’s already a swimmer emoji featuring a shirtless guy as it is. What do women swimmers get? The emoji of the pink polka-dotted bikini, in the fashion section rather than the sports section.
There are some new masculine counterparts added for the existing feminine emoji. For example, the “dancing woman” emoji now has a counterpart in “dancing man,” depicting a guy doing a Saturday Night Fever pose.The “princess” emoji now has a “prince” version, depicting a guy wearing a little crown. The “bride” emoji now has a “groom” counterpart, although unlike the “bride” emoji, he is not officially called “groom,” he’s called “man in tuxedo.” I guess that way he could be James Bond instead of just a groom.
Another emoji that stuck out to me is “pregnant woman.” I mean, I’m surprised that wasn’t already in there, and I guess I’m glad it’s available now, but in context it’s strange that this got accepted when so many other emoji depicting women did not.
Oh, and I almost forgot: we have “nauseated face” now! So I guess we really have it all.
(via The Daily Dot, image via The Unicode Consortium)
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