Have you ever noticed how only guys get to do cool things in emoji form? There are male emojis who surf, and solve mysteries. Well, Apple is here to let us all know that feminine emojis can do these things too!

On Monday, the tech giant announced the release of 100 new and redesigned emojis featured in iOS 10 which will be available in September. This overhaul focuses on adding female athletes and professionals, as well as a rainbow flag and single parent family emojis. This is an exciting step forward in the path toward equality, and symbolizes a rejection of traditional gender roles.

Read more: Global Goal 5: Gender equality

Much debate has been triggered by one of the redesigns: a replacement of the pistol emoji with a toy water gun. CNN reports that this decision was influenced by an open letter from an organization called New Yorkers Against Gun Violence. In the past, use of the pistol emoji has caused quite a few legal issues – a 12-year-old in Virginia was charged for allegedly threatening her school with the emoji. A French court ruled that a pistol emoji could be a death threat “in the form of an image,” sentencing a man to three months for sending the emoji to his ex-girlfriend.

While for many anti-gun groups this was excellent news, for some it was hard to see the point of the small redesign.

Apple had previously updated the emojis to include options for different skin tones, in a commitment to diversity.

“Apple is working closely with the Unicode Consortium to ensure that popular emoji characters reflect the diversity of people everywhere,” the company said in a statement regarding iOS 10’s revamped emojis.


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Women Surf, Bike, and Spy in Apple's Newest Emoji

Par Madeline Schwartz