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'Pregnant man' emojis mocked, Internet says looks like 'beer gut that is sore'

The Unicode Consortium released a draft list of the newest emojis that were designed to show more diversity in gender

The introduction of a pregnant man in the newest set of emojis to be released over the coming year has caused quite a stir on social media and sparked a variety of reactions.

The Unicode Consortium, a non-profit company that promotes the Unicode standard, released a draft list of the newest emojis that were designed to show more diversity in gender. In 2019, same-sex couples and gender-neutral emojis were among a wave of inclusive characters added to the library. Nonetheless, the regulator faced backlash for leaving the transgender flag and symbol out of the draft. Now, the introduction of pregnant man and multi-racial handshake emojis shows another attempt to increase diversity and inclusivity.

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This came after Freddy McConnell, one of the very few trans men in the UK to have given birth, warned in 2019 that there was a lot of "misinformation" from the medical profession about the ability of transmen to give birth, and this resulted in "de facto sterilization." The Unicode Consortium has also decided to allow users to display handshakes between hands of different skin tones, following a year of global protests surrounding racial injustice sparked by the death of George Floyd in May 2020.

Among other new emojis are hands making a heart shape, someone biting their lip, faces melting, saluting, holding back tears, as well as peeking out between their fingers, Sky News reported.

While social media users largely embraced the multiracial handshake emoji, many poked fun at the concept of a 'pregnant man' one. "It looks more like a "you fat ba**ard" emoji. That contented, yet pained, moment after a full Magaluf gut-buster, Xmas dinner with all the trimmings, or perhaps a late-night lamb bhuna, buttressed with 4-5 Kingfishers," journalist Martin Daubney tweeted. "The pregnant man emoji will be used .0001% of the time to describe a “pregnant trans man’ and 99.9999% by straight dudes talking about the huge burrito they just ate," Blaze reporter Jessica O'Donnell wrote. 

"That’s not a pregnant man it’s a guy that has a beer gut and it’s a bit sore - many can relate to that so that’s why it’s been brought in," one Twitter user quipped. "In what world is a pregnant man firstly a thing and secondly necessary as an emoji," another added. "Good to see the multi-racial handshake being introduced… as for the scientifically impossible, I think it’ll be used as a ‘food baby’ emoji instead," a third chimed in.

One woman who had a difficult time getting pregnant wrote, "Multiracial handshake yep it was missing from the emojis, makes total sense. A pregnant man?! As a pregnant woman who struggled to get pregnant, I find this highly offensive, to suggest men can get pregnant is absurd!!! And insulting to us women with fertility issues." Another commented, "'Pregnant man'. The West is imploding and Beijing, Moscow Tehran, and Pyongyang have ringside seats."

LGBTQ advocates, however, celebrated the pregnant emoji as heralding a new era of inclusivity and slammed the pushback against it. "Love love love this! We've been crying out for a pregnant man emoji for years so thank you for finally listening. All the pregnant men I know are buzzing with this and can't wait to use it!" one Twitter user wrote.

"Put it this way. How does the pregnant man emoji hurt anyone? Therefore, what’s the issue with it being implemented? Even if only a few people feel represented by a new emoji, surely it’s worthwhile," another added. "People losing their GD mind over pregnant man, saying it's not possible, but have no problem with. I think this hits too close to home. Leave their tiny minds alone," another commented read.