Yes, you read it right ladies we will finally have a period emoji.
No more will we have to have to awkwardly type the words “Sorry staying in tonight, on the blob/ the rag” or ” “Aunt Flow is paying a visit” or “my cousin from red rock mountain is here”.
This new development is the result of a campaign which was led by girls’ rights group Plan International UK, who petitioned for a period emoji to help tackle period stigma.
We are thrilled to announce that we are actually getting a #PeriodEmoji!
It is through your support that we can now celebrate that the @unicode have announced that we will get our first ever #PeriodEmoji in March 2019 ?
Find out more here ▶https://t.co/dKd4WwEShX pic.twitter.com/CdyG5fapAx
— PlanInternational UK (@PlanUK) February 6, 2019
A survey carried out by Plan International UK found that almost half (47%) of women aged 18-32 believed that a period emoji would make it easier to discuss the topic with friends and partners. We are all familiar with the stigma associated with even a whisper of the word “period”. That look of shock and repulsion at the mere mention of periods and the most common response of “ugggh” and “oversharing”. This stigma leads to a feeling of shame around a perfectly natural process that every woman goes through every month. It’s time we broke down the stigma and normalised the conversation around women’s intimate health. A period emoji is just a small step in the right direction.
Lucy Russell, Head of Girls’ Rights and Youth at Plan International UK, commented on the new emoji, stating that:
The inclusion of an emoji which can express what 800 million women around the world are experiencing every month is a huge step towards normalising periods and smashing the stigma which surrounds them.”
For years we’ve obsessively silenced and euphemised periods. As experts in girls’ rights, we know that this has a negative impact on girls; girls feel embarrassed to talk about their periods, they’re missing out, and they can suffer health implications as a consequence
Lucy also acknowledges that the introduction of the period emoji will not eradicate the years of stigma, but it is a step toward opening up and normalising the conversation.
Now we have our period emoji, next step in the period related issue to tackle tampon taxes.
