Yay for women, yay for the rag.
It has been confirmed that a period emoji is finally coming after more than 55,000 people called for its inclusion in a campaign led by global girl’s rights charity, Plan International UK.
Unicode announced its go-ahead today, February 6. The red droplet shaped emoji is set to be activated in the coming months according to Vogue and hopes to further reduce the stigma attached to periods.
Plan Internation UK have been pushing for this emoji for quite some time having found that almost half of women aged 18-34 believed that a period emoji would make it easier to discuss periods with friends and partners.
Speaking about the emoji receiving the green light, Lucy Russell, head of girl’s rights and youth at Plan International UK 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 normalizing 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.”
And although we’re all very aware that a period emoji won’t break down all the walls surrounding period stigma, we do believe that it’s a step in the right direction, helping to normalise the conversation around that time of the month.
Yep, we’re all for that.
For the month of February, Her will be #OnTheRag.
We’ll be chatting all things periods, products, and pain as we delve deep inside the uterus to figure out why we bleed and – more importantly – how we cope.
We’ll also be talking to the experts about some of the period related conditions you have heard of – and all of the ones that you haven’t.
You can follow the rest of the #OnTheRag series here or follow our Instagram account for more period related content.
Want to get in touch? Email us at [email protected].
