A short overview of the most common transsexual/transgender and gender symbols …
Characters and symbols on computers Unicode, the universal standard for characters and symbols, knows traditional ten symbols related to gender and sexuality. More symbols (20 in the latest Unicode standard, 8.0) expressing gender can be found in the emoji section of Unicode. Computers can display them just any other text (for example, like alphanumeric characters), and they can be copied and pasted. Not all fonts can display them, though. Geneaological and traditional gender, sex and partnership symbols Gender and sex symbols The traditional gender and sex symbols are derived from ancient and mediaeval astrological and alchemical symbols.
Genealogical relationship and partnership symbols ⚬ U+26AC Medium small white circle (engaged = wedding ring) Gendered emojis and other symbols relating to gender Gendered symbols/emojis in Unicode The Unicode guidelines[2] state that only very few emojis have an explicit gender. By default, all other emojis are gender-neutral. The complete list of gendered emojis is below. Gendered people emojis 👦 U+1F466 Boy | 👧 U+1F467 Girl Gendered emojis for partnerships 👫 U+1F46B Man and woman holding hands Gendered transport and map symbols (typically used for restrooms and changing rooms) 🛉 U+1F6C9 Boys symbol[3] | 🛊 U+1F6CA Girls symbol[3] Gendered emojis depicting characters and roles 🎅 U+1F385 Father Christmas For Unicode version 9.0, scheduled for June 2016, some emoji additions are being discussed. Most are designed to gender-balance the above emojis depicting characters and roles:
🤶 1F936 Mother Christmas (to match 🎅 U+1F385 Father Christmas) Selection of gender-neutral Unicode symbols By default, all emojis except the ones listed in the “gendered” section above are gender-neutral and should be depicted as such. This vast majority of gender-neutral symbols includes all emoticons (smileys) and even some symbols with gender-specific names (such as 💂 U+1F482 Guardsman). Gender-neutral people emoji 👤 U+1F464 Bust in silhouette Gender-neutral relationship symbol 👪 U+1F46A Family Gender-neutral partnership symbol 💑 U+1F491 Couple with heart Gender-neutral transport and map symbols (typically used for restrooms and baby change rooms) 🚻 U+1F6BB Restroom Small selection of gender-neutral emojis depicting characters and roles 👮 U+1F46E Police officer Character display issues ♀♂⚥⚲⚧⚤⚣⚢⚪☿⚦⚨⚩⚬⚭⚮⚯👦👧👨👩👴👵👫👬👭🛉🛊🚹🚺🎅👯👰👲👳👸🕴👤👥👶👱👪💑🚻🚼👮👷💂 – If your browser displays little rectangles or other placeholders instead of the expected Unicode symbol, then your display font doesn’t have the required characters. The newer the fonts on your system, the more likely are they to have the latest Unicode characters. [1] Sadly, the Unicode repertoire doesn’t include a sign for bisexuality, hence the clumsy workaround using two characters. Maybe the bisexuality sign will be added at a future revision? [2] See Unicode Emoji (Unicode Technical Report #51, dated 2015-06-09), Chapter 2.1. Gender. [3] 🛉 U+1F6C9 Boys symbol and 🛊 U+1F6CA Girls symbol are not listed in the section of gendered emojis in the Unicode guidelines[2]. Normally, this would imply the symbols are gender-neutral. However, since 🚹 U+1F6B9 Mens symbol and 🚺 U+1F6BA Womens symbol are listed as gendered symbols, I assume this is an erroneous omission. [4] Naturally. [5] Guardsperson would have been a much less confusing term. |