On the occasion of the International Day of the Girl this October 11, instituted by the United Nations in 2012, the association Rules Elementary launches a petition for an emoticon that more clearly represents menstrual periods. At the same time, the association presents a file with Unicode, the international organization in charge of validating emojis.
Basic Rules advocates a blood-stained panties emoji, drawn with the YZ agency. The purpose of the association is simply to designate the rules as experienced daily by people who menstruate. “Representing things is making them exist,” underlines Elementary Rules in its petition.
The association, created in 2015, fights against menstrual insecurity by distributing health protection to women in need. In France, 2 million people do not have enough to buy protection and 1 in 3 girls has already been discriminated against for their menstruation, according to the Opinion Way barometer carried out in May 2022.
Second try
Maud Leblon, director of the association, points out in an interview granted to Release, that the periods are, for the moment, represented only by a drop of blood. “Bloodstained panties really convey reality. This emoji, which is much more direct, can help destigmatize and alleviate guilt when we find bloodstains on our clothes due to our period,” he explains.
The ground rules will make a case with Unicode. It is not the first time that an emoji of this type has been offered to the consortium. In 2017, an English association had presented it, but it was rejected by the organization because it considered it shocking despite the 50,000 votes of the citizens. Maud Lebron estimates, with Releasethat reintroducing it is important because it is “necessary to explicitly highlight a natural phenomenon” and because “#MeToo has been there.”
Source: BFM TV
