CYBERSPACE—As most adult entertainment industry members are aware, British firm Durex makes condoms of all kinds: colored, flavored, latex, non-latex, form-fitting—you name it. Industry members may also be aware that December 1 is World AIDS Day—but even if they aren't, Durex certainly is, but it's noticed that apparently too many millennials (at least, the ones not in the adult industry) don't seem to be very concerned with safe sex, and that's a problem. Fortunately, the Oxford English Dictionary has come to the rescue!
See, the Oxford, in an unprecedented move, has declared the "tears of joy" emoji as the 2015 "Word of the Year," because, according to Oxford Dictionaries President Casper Grathwohl, "You can see how traditional alphabet scripts have been struggling to meet the rapid-fire, visually focused demands of 21st century communication. It's not surprising that a pictographic script like emoji has stepped in to fill those gaps—it's flexible, immediate and infuses tone beautifully."
Durex obviously feels the same way—which is why it's promoting the idea that a new emoji be added to the current (fairly large) roster: the condom. That's in part because according to the results of a survey that Durex recently commissioned, "eight out of 10 young people are more comfortable talking about sex in emoji terms"—and sadly, they're currently only able to use poor substitutes like eggplants, pineapples, lips, lipstick, hearts (whole and broken), a small woman in a red dress dancing—and what looks like a pile of excrement with eyes. If approved, Durex's condom emoji would be what the website Mashable describes as "the first explicitly sexual emoji."
Durex obviously agrees.
"Emojis of this sort will enable young people to overcome embarrassment around the discussion of safe sex, encourage conversation and raise awareness of the importance of using condoms in protecting against sexually transmitted infections, including HIV and AIDS," said Durex's marketing director Karen Chisholm in a statement.
But that's not all! What with several bloggers and sites talking about how most emojis that feature human faces are almost exclusively white humans, artists Katy McCarthy and Jeremy Yingling have created a full set of emojis that would be the perfect complement to Durex's proposed condom: flirtmojis, which include a full set of "vagmojis" as well as such interesting creations as a banana with a condom, a pair of rabbits humping, a group of sperm, an ass wired to a telephone receiver and several others.
"Flirtmoji is a visual language designed to empower people of all sexualities to communicate their desires, concerns, and flirtations," the site explains. "We are a group of designers, developers, and hornballs on a mission to give the people playful, inclusive, and functional sex emoji. Launched in 2014 and based in the Bay Area, California, Flirtmoji is going places and we want you to come."
Flirtmojis are currently available for download and use from the site, or one can simply open the flirtmoji set on one's smartphone, select one, hit "copy," open a messaging app and paste it directly into the message.
Ain't communication wonderful?
