Apple has published a new set of emojis for the new iOS 15.4 (iOS 15.4), which included an icon of a "pregnant" man.
The New York Post said Apple's move is part of an ongoing effort by emoji makers to make digital discourse more inclusive in their view, by introducing gay symbols among other symbols.
The new list of emojis was made available by Apple last week in a new beta version of the iOS 15 software update.
It made the decision to include emojis in the Unicode Consortium, an industry non-profit body that regulates how characters are displayed online, including the release of new emojis.
Among the 838 new characters in #Unicode14 are 37 new #emoji, along with new emoji sequences, that are expected to show up on 📱s, 💻s, and other platforms sometime next year → https://t.co/deSr1g6m8k #絵文字 pic.twitter.com/xuTf8Os02K
— The Unicode Consortium (@unicode) September 7, 2021
Americans are angry
A number of Americans in the media and social networks criticized the company "Apple" for issuing the "pregnant man" emoji.
One person tweeted, "We failed at the civilization level," and another wrote, "Pregnant man emoji created the gay porn mafia."
Tell me it isn't so that they are making a pregnant man emoji with this new update… we have failed as a civilization
— Sidney Pinnix (@Sidpindoe) January 28, 2022
the new pregnant man emoji was submitted by the twitter gay porn mafia i just know it pic.twitter.com/mPezvQ9GLZ
— Stephen スティーヹン (@TAIKORA) January 28, 2022
He mocked the emoji with Sean Spicer, who served as Donald Trump's White House press secretary and is currently hosting a show on the right-wing network Newsmax.
"I continued studying geology during my undergraduate form, and now I'm finding out what I missed, biology classes were going to help explain the emoji to the pregnant man," Spicer tweeted.
In college I satisfied the science requirement by taking geology – now I see what I missed – those biology classes would have helped explain the new pregnant man emoji pic.twitter.com/qXcYq6anA3
— Sean Spicer (@seaspicer) January 30, 2022
Last week, Fox News host Tucker Carlson devoted part of his show to talking about emojis, and Carlson saw the introduction of emojis as a form of "disinformation."
"In the real world, men can get pregnant easily if they don't take the proper precautions. Watch out guys, this can happen to you," he quipped.
In the real world, men can very easily get pregnant if they don't take proper precautions.
Watch out guys.
It could happen to you.
Apple's new iPhone update includes a reminder of this: a pregnant man emoji.
pic.twitter.com/2oyl8BW1aZ
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) January 29, 2022
Republicans have long been opposed to what some groups call transgender rights.
Wisconsin Republicans recently introduced a bill to limit the age at which gender reassignment surgery can be performed, one of a number of bills Republicans have pushed statewide to restrict access to gender reassignment surgeries and ban transgender youth from participating in certain athletic competitions.
Americans are not alone...a global rejection
"Apple's new pregnant man emoji. Words fail me, the world has gone crazy," Piers Morgan wrote on Twitter.
Apple's new pregnant man emoji.
Words fail me.
#TheWorldsGoneNuts pic.twitter.com/FY7brjYU6l
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) January 29, 2022
According to the American newspaper, Apple representatives did not respond to the barrage of criticism directed at the new update.
The new operating system is still in the beta stage, however, the final version will contain 37 emoji, according to MacRumors.