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Good news for women: there will soon be a breastfeeding emoji. (In a week like the one we’ve had, we have to take the wins where we can)
Unicode – the consortium that approves new emojis – has signed off on 56 new ones, including a woman breastfeeding a baby, a woman wearing a hijab, a woman practising yoga…. And a flying saucer. Make of that what you will.
The idea for a breastfeeding emoji was proposed by British nurse Rachel Lee, who submitted that, given there was a baby bottle emoji – not to mention “the prevalence of breastfeeding in cultures around the world, and throughout history” – the lack of a breastfeeding equivalent represented a “gap”.
Advocacy groups hope the emoji will help normalise breastfeeding, while mums have taken to twitter to note the practicality of creating an emoji, which allows you to easily – and one-handedly – brext (breastfeed and text) that you’re breastfeeding. Brilliant.
