There’s A New ‘Period Emoji’ & It’ll Help Change Attitudes Towards ‘That Time Of The Month’

Menstruation.

There, I said it. Ever since I was little, we’ve been tiptoeing around this word. In school, we called it ‘that time of the month’. We were afraid to say it just like calling Voldemort by his name. As we grew older, we found funnier (and somewhat creepy) euphemisms – Aunt Flo, moon flow, moon sickness, Satan’s sacrificial waterfall and the crimson tide. But there wasn’t anything definitive in the emoji language to say ‘period’. Until now.

The Unicode Consortium is rolling out 230 new emojis this year. Some of them include an auto rickshaw, a sari and a pinching hand emoji!

But the one I’m most excited for is the period emoji.

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

— Plan International UK (@PlanUK) February 6, 2019

or as Emojipedia describes it,

“A drop of blood shown in red. May be used to signify a blood donation, bleeding, injury or menstruation.”

The design was submitted by Plan International UK & NHS Blood and Transplant

Lucy Russell, Head of Girls’ Rights and Youth at Plan International UK, told TIME Magazine, “The inclusion of an emoji which can express what 800 million women around the world are experiencing every month is a huge step towards normalizing periods and smashing the stigma which surrounds them. For years we’ve obsessively silenced and euphemized 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.”

While everyone agrees that a single emoji isn’t going to solve matters, it is definitely a step in the right direction.

#PeriodEmoji it's about time pic.twitter.com/pOdIiQCcLc

— Samantha Sile (@samanthasile) February 7, 2019

As long as there are places anywhere in the world where mothers and fathers feel too embarrassed to talk to their daughters and sons about periods, sex and anything related to such natural processes, we need these tiny steps in the right direction. #PeriodEmoji https://t.co/69RfvLlXvQ

— Anju Ambily (@AAmbily) February 7, 2019

We finally have an emoji representing #menstruation. This is an important step towards starting conversations on getting rid of the stigma around periods. #menstruationmatters #menstrualhealth #GoodNews pic.twitter.com/7zQfJlt6Je

— SheThePeople (@SheThePeople) February 7, 2019

https://twitter.com/bullet_tears/status/1093316302742134784

Bloody taboos: new emoji could help to end period 'shame' pic.twitter.com/wDjOlEdpJP

— Anita McLoudmouth (@wontstfu) February 7, 2019

I’m definitely using this emoji instead of calling it lady time, code red, shark week or red menace. How about you?