Bloody Awesome! Period Emoji Gets Go-Ahead to be Added to Emoji Keyboard

Plan International UK designed five period emojis for a public vote. Photograph: Plan International

A period emoji has been given the green light and is due to hit smartphone keyboards in early 2019, giving women and girls a much-needed new way to talk about their periods.

Unicode – the California-based organisation that manages the distribution of emojis – has confirmed that the blood-drop shaped emoticon will be rolled out on smartphone keyboards worldwide as early as autumn. 

It comes after more than 55,000 people called for a period emoji to be added to the global emoji keyboard last year, in a campaign led by global girls’ rights organisation Plan International to help break down the silence, stigma and taboos surrounding periods.

Research from Plan International revealed a clear need for more accessible ways of talking about menstruation. A survey of women aged 18-34 found half (47%) believed a period emoji would make it easier for them to talk about their periods with female friends and partners.

Hayley Cull, Advocacy & Community Engagement Director at Plan International Australia, said:

“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.

“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.”

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1 Comments

  1. says: Nikki VELIZ Merzliakov

    This was great to see! Anything to break the menstrual taboos! After having my 2nd child and recently getting my period back I started charting my cycle daily. And I’ve found that through this process, I know when I need to rest more, create time to write & be more creative and when I best make decisions. It’s seriously an untapped power our cycles!!

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