Coming up against brick walls (pickles and lighthouses): Why isn’t there a tampon emoji?

Former Menstrual Justice Committee member Hat Porter (they/them) shares their experience of proposing tampon, pad and menstrual cup emojis - and having all three rejected. With thousands of symbols available, why are menstrual products missing? This article explores Unicode’s opaque decision-making and what these omissions reveal about menstrual stigma, representation and digital expression.

Every month, when I get my period, I flood messages to my friends with complaints about it. As of September 2026, Unicode 18.0 offers a choice of 3,972 emojis, including skin tone and gender variants, to adorn messages and help convey emotion, tone and context. Messaging platforms allow my friends to kindly and patiently respond with a single emoji to show their care. Amongst thousands of choices, we can select from the best of 12 types of train, 3 cable cars, 4 planes, 8 different styles of shoe and 14 different notebooks. However, with the exception of a single blood drop, there is no specific menstruation emoji, no tampon, pad or cup, and nothing that adequately supports my monthly period messages. 

Unicode is the universal digital character encoding system that supports digital text access languages, writing systems and special characters as well as emojis which are small graphics determined by a set of characters. Although there are slight differences in appearance across platforms, emojis form a universal pictorial language reportedly used by 92% of global online users. There is an emoji movie, merchandise and in 2015 the laugh-crying emoji (😂) was named the Oxford Dictionary word of the year. Whilst the earliest emojis were developed by Japanese technology companies in the 1980s and 1990s, in 2010, Unicode 6.0 introduced a new system for emoji encoding that facilitated use across a greater number of devices combining 114 existing emojis with a further 608 new additions.

Over the years, news emojis have been added, from 2015, users could change the skin tone of emojis from the generic yellow shade; from 2016 users could choose the gender of figures; and in 2019 a gender neutral option was added. Whilst efforts have been made over the years to increase the diversity and representation of the emojis available, with fewer new emojis being added each year at the discretion of a Unicode panel, there remain glaring absences, including the lack of emojis representing menstruation and menopause. 

In 2019, Plan International and NHS Blood and Transplant services successfully submitted a blood drop emoji to Unicode to represent both menstruation as well as blood more generally. The campaign was supported by a petition with over 54,000 signatures and focus on the value of the emoji in supporting open conversations both about menstruation and blood and organ donation. However, this followed sustained campaigning and previous unsuccessful attempts at proposing more menstruation-specific emojis with a proposed period emoji rejected in 2017 following a petition set up by Bodyform.

Whilst the blood drop emoji was a step forward in representation of menstruation, it remains non-specific and ambiguous. However, subsequent proposals for a tampon in 2019 and period and menopause emojis in 2024 were also declined.

Anyone can submit a proposal for an emoji to Unicode however, the decision on which proposals will be progressed into emojis are made by the Unicode Consortium Emoji Subcommittee. Proposals that meet the requirements – such as excluding logos or specific buildings and people – are assessed based on their expected popularity, relevance and specificity. Proposers must demonstrate that the meaning of the emoji is not already covered by existing emojis. To do so, the application process uses internet searches across web, image and video for ‘elephant’ as a benchmark, requiring comparisons of the frequency of the search term(s) associated with the proposed emoji to interest in ‘elephant’, as an example moderately used emoji. Unicode are firm that they do not accept petitions or evidence of public demand and interest in the proposed emoji through social media or marketing campaigns. 

In 2025, on behalf of the Irise Youth Menstrual Justice Committee, I submitted proposals for a tampon, menstrual pad and menstrual cup emojis (there is already an underwear emoji which we felt would double up as representation of menstrual underwear). We carefully completed the thorough application form and set out the value, suitability and importance of the three proposed emojis, however all three proposals were rejected without any feedback or rationale provided and with no appeals process. Unfortunately, new rules introduced by Unicode mean declined proposals cannot be re-submitted again for a four-year period meaning we will likely remain without representation of menstruation in emoji form for years to come. 

In 2025, alongside my rejected proposals for a tampon, pad and cup, emoji submissions for Black hairstyles including lox a boxbraids, a neurodivergence pride symbol and disabled athletes were also rejected. Nevertheless, Unicode marked proposals for a wooden wheel, a brick (in addition to the existing brick wall emoji) and a pickle as ‘under consideration’ meaning they will be progressed through the next stages of development. In September 2026, Unicode V18.0 added a further nine emojis including a pickle (joining the cucumber emoji), lighthouse, a second type of butterfly and net.

Whilst it may be individual preference, I would certainly prefer – and use vastly more frequently – a pad emoji than a lighthouse, net, wooden wheel or brick. Given the absence of feedback, justification for the rejected proposals, or processes to appeal, the behind closed doors decision-making appears arbitrary and poorly justified. Has menstrual stigma contributed to the repeated rejected proposals over the years? Has the poor prioritisation of the health of women and people who menstruate led to a devaluation of the need for representation of experiences of menstruation and menopause?

In 2026, menstrual shame and stigma remains a pressing issue globally. Women, girls and people who menstruate continue to suffer injustice, harm and violence. Girls miss school, people use toilet paper, cloth, leaves or socks in place of suitable menstrual products and those experiencing heavy and painful periods continue to suffer with a lack of access to suitable diagnosis, support and treatment. For many who rarely use emojis, the matter may seem trivial, yet as a global language emojis are significant in codifying the ways in which people communicate in the digital age, they shape possibilities for expression and in the notable absence of what is not rendered in emoji form, perhaps signify what should not be spoken about. 

Whilst efforts continue to fight for menstrual justice, despite my unsuccessful attempts to get tampon, pad and menstrual cup emojis this time, I will continue my monthly messages to friends, making do with the memes, photos and emojis available for now. 

Hat Porter (they/them) is an activist, researcher and artist campaigning for disability and menstrual justice.

Instagram: @hat.tea  

Open letter:O There can be no disability justice without menstrual justice