Are female emojis sexist and harmful to girls?
(CNN)My girls will think it’s more than a little bit ironic that I am writing a story about emojis, those characters you find throughout texts and social media, since they believe I’m the last person on the planet to download them on my phone. (I only did that a few months ago!)
It is estimated that 6 billion emojis are sent every day, according to Swyft Media, with young girls believed to be responsible for more than a billion of the daily output. They are so popular thatOxford Dictionaries declared emoji the official word of 2015. Clearly, I am very slow to capitalize on this trend!
So, as an emoji novice, if there is such an expression, I had no idea what female and male characters were available to choose from until I watched the newest #LikeAGirl video by Always,the creator of sanitary pads. In this latest video, which follows videos in 2014 and 2015 that went viral showcasing how a girls’ confidence plummets during puberty, girls are asked about the emojis that are available to represent them.