Emoji is enigmatic.
The digital people, animal, food, activity, travel, object, symbol and flag images that are supposed to help us better communicate often can be confusing.
What in the world is that white cloud with the pink swirl in the food section? We looked it up -- it's a fish cake. Its relevance is still fishy to us.
For such a high-tech messaging method, why are so many of its icons -- a floppy disk, a videocassette, an old radio receiver, a TV with rabbit ears -- so antiquated? After all, if you are using emoji, that means you're probably using a wireless phone, so why would you send someone an image of a land- line version or old-school pager?
Doggone, why are there nine cat facial expressions and five other assorted feline icons in the animals section but a mere three dogs? This when there are two (!) different kinds of camels (the one-humped dromedary and two-humped Bactrian). Chances are, if you're communicating where there's an abundance of camels, the Wi-Fi signal probably isn't so hot.
Speaking of hot, anyone ever made use of the roasted half sweet potato emoji? Even once? (Never mind. It probably, as other produce, has a risque double meaning I don't care to know about.)
Recently others have raised more meaningful discussions about emoji and their social significance, particularly where women are concerned.
Icons with vocations -- police officer, construction worker, guard, spy, Santa Claus -- are guys. (And no, we're not counting Playboy Bunny -- at least that's how we interpret the dancing gals wearing bunny ears -- as a vocation.)
In Emojiville, women are only seen doing shallow activities: wearing a crown, getting a massage, getting hair styled, dancing, getting nails done.
Wait, that is wrong? That list reads like my ideal job description. I want to be an emoji when I grow up!
In "Emoji Feminism," a New York Times opinion piece published in March, a more profound writer, Amy Butcher, protests, "Where, I wanted to know, was the fierce professor working her way to tenure? Where was the lawyer? The accountant? The surgeon? How was there space for both a bento box and a single fried coconut shrimp, and yet women were restricted to a smattering of tired, beauty-centric roles?"
Butcher's piece was quoted in "Expanding Emoji Professions: Reducing Gender Inequality," Google's proposal to the Unicode Consortium, the body that approves emoji.
The 10-page report written by four employees encourages the creation of 13 new emojis: "Google wants to increase the representation of women in emoji and would like to propose that Unicode implementers do the same. Our proposal is to create a new set of emoji that represents a wide range of professions for women and men with a goal of highlighting the diversity of women's careers and empowering girls everywhere."
These 13 characters, the report says, "depict women across a representative sample of professions. We believe this will empower young women (the heaviest emoji users), and better reflect the pivotal roles women play in the world."
Their list includes: business (office worker, financial adviser, etc.); health care (physician); health care (nurse, dentist, etc.); science (chemist etc.); graduate; technology (software engineer, etc.); industry (factory worker, etc.); industry (high-tech industry or assembly line worker), industry (mechanic, plumber, etc.); farming; food service; education; and music.
The report refers to AdWeek statistics concluding that of the online consumers using emoji (92 percent total), 78 percent of women are frequent emoji users (compared to only 60 percent of men).
Why shouldn't girls and women be able to use pictures that inspire and resemble them? Google makes a good case for them.
Too bad it doesn't make good clothes for them. (Though admittedly, the "music" look, inspired by KISS or maybe Jem and the Holograms, and complete with rock hand gesturing, is pretty cute.)
For the love of fish cakes and roasted half sweet potatoes, answer me this: Why are Google's proposed business woman and female doctor emojis wearing men's neckties?
Page me. Or, better yet, email:
jchristman@arkansasonline.com
What's in a Dame is a weekly report from the woman 'hood. You can hear Jennifer on Little Rock's KURB-FM, B98.5 (B98.com), from 5:30-9 a.m. Monday through Friday.
Style on 05/17/2016