By now I’m sure you’ve heard the big news.
The latest iOS 8.3 update for iPhone users comes with a highly anticipated racially inclusive emoji release. What does that mean? It means I finally can stop using the red-dress flamenco lady whenever I refer to myself in emoji.
Don’t get me wrong, flamenco lady is one of my favorites. I just always felt inauthentic using her—for the record I’ve never owned a knee-length red dress, or even attempted to flamenco.
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The emoji struggle is real. We’re all looking for our own form of digital representation, and for a long time it was the best that I could do. The other female emojis never felt right, they didn’t look like me.
They are powerful little things, emojis. We can communicate instantly and convey countless feelings with a few flicks of our thumbs. They have the ability to change relationships and strengthen bonds. Some people may consider this all very silly, and I get it—but I think that fails to acknowledge emojis’ significance in our world today. Emojis transcend demographics—everyone from teen sisters to grandpas have been known to send the always-hilarious poop emoji.
So if you’re anything like me, and were tired of scrolling through your phone’s keyboard and not finding much to connect with (besides standard smiley faces) you got excited about this release. It is a much-needed acknowledgment of online outcry, including a DoSomething.org petition that pushed for emoji diversity. Even Miley Cyrus supported the cause when she started #emojiethnicityupdate back in 2012. It’s about time emojis caught up with the times after seeming so out of touch with reality.
But honestly? Let’s call this an emoji-sized step forward in the right direction. Much like most social progress, we still have a long way to go. Is this new slew of emojis going to further conversations about race? Probably not. But is it going to make legions of emoji fans feel a little less ignored? You bet.
The nonprofit Unicode Consortium determines what emojis make the cut and which ones don’t. The new skin tone options are based on the Fitzpatrick scale, which is a dermatologist-approved skin color classification system. You now can select certain emojis with one of five skin tones, unless you opt for the “ethnically neutral” Lego people/Bart Simpson shade. Similar to the frustration I feel when trying to buy foundation, there’s not going to be a match for everyone, unfortunately.
This release is far from perfect. A quick Twitter search will show you what people’s biggest qualms are. Redheads, for one, are feeling excluded. Rightfully so—there’s not a single red-haired emoji. While we’re talking hair, could we maybe try for one other texture than the straight tresses all these emojis sport?
I’m thrilled that same-sex couples and families are represented, but those come as is, with no other skin tone options. That means no interracial couples or families. You also can’t change the skin tone of the two girl friends in bunny ears. This all seems kind of half-assed and doesn’t make sense to me.
I wouldn’t be true to myself if I didn’t harp on the exclusion of the taco emoji. It’s been a popular request, with many lamenting about it on social media. Taco Bell started a Change.org petition pleading for a taco emoji that’s garnered over 31,000 signatures to no avail. Sigh, I just want to express my love of tacos via an icon. Is that too much to ask?
Admittedly, I have no idea how much time and effort it takes to pull off something like this emoji update. And I know, it’s impossible to satisfy everyone’s emoji wishes. Ideally, I’d love themed expansion packs we could choose to download to expand our keyboard’s libraries (that are of course, compatible across all platforms). Can someone out there make this happen?
Meanwhile I’ll continue to hope for the day I can message my friends with an authentic taco emoji—one with onions, cilantro and salsa on it. Hey, a girl can dream.
Michelle Lopez is a special contributor to RedEye.
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