Use emoji respectfully.

Happy Friday! If I could, I’d communicate online only using emoji. It’s short, simple, and to the point. I write about 6,000 words each week, so I could use the break. Besides, all this year, I’ve felt like 🥴– my most frequently used emoji at the moment. That’s much shorter than “overwhelmed, angry, frustrated, happy, exhausted, and kinda hungry?”
 

But, in all seriousness, emoji is part of our digital lexicon, which means it’s a part of our language. And whether it’s written prose or a poop emoji, language matters. Especially when it comes to race. Today we’re looking at why it’s essential to respect the racial and cultural significance of using emoji. If you haven’t already, I recommend reading our post on digital blackface for more context.

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Nicole

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TAKE ACTION

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• Consider how you use emoji and other forms of visual communication online. How may it uphold racial stereotypes?

• Have a conversation with a friend, colleague, brand, etc. who uses emoji out of context.

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GET EDUCATED

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By Nicole Cardoza (she/her)

Last week, the latest software update on iOS included over 100 new emoji, many of which aimed to make this form of digital communication more inclusive. The collection includes a slew of gender-inclusive symbols, like a male emoji holding babies, the Transgender Pride Flag, and genderfluid wedding emoji (Mashable). It also has a range of "disability-themed" emojis, including a new guide dog, an ear with a hearing aid, wheelchairs, a prosthetic arm, and a prosthetic leg. And, it allows users more options to apply skin color, particularly in emoji that show two or more people and the holding hands emoji 🤝 (Paper Magazine). 

Surprisingly, the diversity of emoji has come a long way in a relatively short period. Emoji are a modern interpretation of emoticons, a pictorial representation of facial expressions using characters typed on a digital device. These are part of Unicode, a standardized set of symbols used across nearly all modern computing systems (The Atlantic). Although emoji were popularized in 2010 with the rise of smartphones, it wasn’t until 2015 when users were allowed to toggle to chose from a set of five skin tones. Despite the push for racial and ethnic representation, these tones weren’t designed around specific people. Instead, Unicode used the “Fitzpatrick scale,” a framework developed in the ’70s to describe how different skin tones respond to ultraviolet light (Washington Post). Since then, emoji representation has grown quickly to represent a wide range of religions, countries, sexual orientation, etc.

And it’s important to note that even with this rapid pace of development, emoji still have a long way to go to be equitable. Miriam Sweeney, an assistant professor in the School of Library and Information Studies at the University of Alabama, emphasizes that many emoji still have European phenotypic features, even with darker skin (WBHM).

This rapid addition of skin color offers more representation and opportunities for self-expression. But it also brings our history of racism into a new communication format. But some people choose to use emoji that don’t reflect their actual racial identity. Researchers at the University of Edinburgh found that lighter-skinned people were less likely to use their own skin color than the default yellow (Daily Dot). And beyond this, in 2016, just months after skin color emoji launched, most people on Twitter were using darker skin emoji – even though the demographics of the platform would indicate otherwise (The Atlantic). 

For many people of color, it feels like an act of digital blackface, a way for people to adopt the skin of someone else’s race and use that position for their gain – and/or to oppress Black people (Anti-Racism Daily). Because Blackness in particular is often used when people want to express exaggerated emotions, consider if you’re using stereotypes about race when shifting to different skin colors. More on this in Lauren Michele Jackson’s article on Teen Vogue. 

Some white people will defend using darker-skinned emoji because they don’t want to make their whiteness so “visible,” particularly in these times. Read specific examples of this in The Atlantic and Refinery29. And although the intention is understandable, the impact doesn’t align. Considering that skin color diversity was something people of color specifically rallied to be seen and heard, it feels insincere to have white people use it to obscure their own identity. And remember that it’s a privilege for white people to distance themselves from their whiteness, considering that people of color are marginalized and homogenized based on their identity.

Besides, people often use emoji to bring some intimacy to an otherwise distanced form of engagement – especially those that use digital tools as their primary form of communication. If we’re not representing ourselves, then are we actually connecting?

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People connect with emoji on a personal level—they use them to show their smiles and their hearts...it can be a pretty intimate connection, which is why people want to look at emoji and see the things that are meaningful in their lives.

Tyler Schnoebelen, founder of Idibon, a text analytics company, for WIRED

It’s important to respect emoji, even if one may think it’s “harmless.” Language matters. And emoji has become a distinct part of our lexicon – alongside gifs and Tiktoks and memes and the written word, ASL, and all the other ways we communicate.  This work isn’t about just one instance, but the practices that create them. And we must analyze how we can use language, in all forms, to hurt or heal. When using emoji, use them to express yourself without relying on someone else’s culture or identity. As Samantha Kemp-Jackson, a parenting expert and writer, explains in NPR, "what are you trying to say that you can't say in the color of your own skin?"

Fun fact: you can adopt a Unicode certificate if you forever want to associate yourself or someone else with an emoji 👩🏾‍🏫

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KEY TAKEAWAYS

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• The latest iOS update broadened the range of diversity available in emoji

• Emoji are a part of our lexicon, and we should use them respectfully

• Emoji can be used in a way that appropriates other cultures, identities, backgrounds and beliefs

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RELATED ISSUES

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10/30/2020 | Don't be racist this Halloween.

8/28/2020 | Start seeing color.

7/14/2020 | Embrace your race privilege.

7/13/2020 | Respect the roots of Black hair.

6/15/2020 | Diversify your media consumption.

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