And for those who lament that while the tech giant whizzes can't come up with ideas to keep the blankety-blank spam off your computer, but can spend time coming up with emoji, you're being unreasonable and intolerant

With society crashing down around us, make room for gender-neutral Emoji

By Judi McLeod —— Bio and Archives October 7, 2017

Comments | Print This | Subscribe | Email Us

News from Apple's Goody-Two-Shoe Department--all in the spirit of inclusivity: Apple is rolling out a selection of gender-neutral emojis with iOS 11.1. "Among hundreds of new options set to become available in coming weeks, the company is giving users the opportunity to sprinkle their digital communications with gender-neutral adults, seniors, and kids." (Washington Examiner, Oct. 6, 2017)

Admit it dudes and dudettes of the millennial world, you've been waiting for gender-neutral emojis for the longest time!

"Apple announced the move in a Friday update on its website. According to Buzzfeed, users should expect the emojis to be available on their keyboards at the end of October or early November."

If you don't know what to say on social media anymore, just slap an emoji on it, and the person with whom you're trying to communicate will get it--we think. "Every year, the Unicode Consortium, the organization that handles new emoji proposals, approves a new class of smileys and symbols that tech companies like Apple, Twitter, Samsung, and Facebook often bring to their platforms. (BuzzFeed, Oct. 6, 2017)

"Last November, the group accepted 56 new emoji--and some of those additions are finally slated to show up on your iPhone. "Apple gave BuzzFeed News an exclusive look at its latest set of iOS emoji, which includes an androgynous person, a male fairy, a takeout box, a "shh" smiley, "I love you" in American Sign Language, a bevy of mystical creatures, and an orange heart, which completes that emoji's full rainbow of colors. "They join an earlier set announced in July, which includes the breastfeeding woman, woman with headscarf, and vomiting emojis. They're the latest crop of Apple's hyper-realistic emojis, which were introduced in iOS 10 last year."

You read that right. There is such a thing as "vomiting" emojis. But the emojis worth vomiting over belong to terrorist groups following in the footsteps of ISIS by creating digital stickers they can post like emojis. No lollipops, orange hearts, teddybears for the Brotherhood who last year began using icons depicting beheadings and other violent graphics.

"If you're interested in trying out Apple's latest software updates before their wide release, you can sign up for the company's beta program--but beware, you may encounter some bugs and you should definitely back up your device before you do. (Buzzfeed) Google also redesigned emojis for Android users, and unveiled the new icons in September. "Learn how Google reimagined over 2,000 emoji characters--all in the interest of expression.

"Since the days of Android KitKat, our emoji have grown to over 2,000 characters with only subtle changes in style. With the proliferation of high density screens and new messaging use cases, we decided it was time to give our emoji an overhaul.(Medium.com)

"At Google I/O 2017, we announced a full redesign of the Android emoji font, which includes a unification of our visual style and a brand new design that fosters cultural awareness through diverse and inclusive emoji.

Emoji are now their own tribe. Since a whole slew of new pronouns come with gender-neutral adults, seniors and kids, with some government authorities levelling fines on those who misuse them, better brush up on the new language of Ze, Zir and Xe. Under some current legislation, heaven forbid you ever identify your gender-neutral emoji with the wrong pronoun. There's not just a 'Unicode Consortium' created by the tech giants rolling out all the rules but the sure to come 'Emoji Grand Council' on the lookout for offenders. And for those who lament that while the tech giant whizzes can't come up with ideas to keep the blankety-blank spam off your computer, but can spend time coming up with emoji, you're being unreasonable and intolerant. There's an emoji for complainers like you, and it's one that's likely poking out its tongue at you.

Judi McLeod -- Bio and Archives | Comments

RSS Feed for Judi McLeod
Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years’ experience in the print media. A former Toronto Sun columnist, she also worked for the Kingston Whig Standard. Her work has appeared on Rush Limbaugh, Newsmax.com, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com.

Older articles by Judi McLeod