Just when you thought the transgender debate couldn’t get messier, along came Big Tech. In its most recent software update, Apple has added a new emoji depicting a pregnant man.
The symbol shows a man with a pregnant woman’s stomach. Additionally featured is a “pregnant person” emoji — depicting someone who is pregnant, but not outwardly male or female apart from the rather obvious tell.
The emojis were included in the most recent iOS update, version 15.4. They were initially released in a beta-testing version of the update, in January of this year, but were included in a general update more recently. The emojis are available on iPhones, iPads, iPods, Apple Watches, and other iOS devices updated to the latest version.
With the update, Apple steps into the ever-escalating debate about transgender issues. Most recently, this has focused on whether biological males identifying as women may participate in women’s sporting categories — e.g., the case of Lia Thomas, a biologically male University of Pennsylvania swimmer who identifies as female and who won the NCAA Championships’ Women’s 500-yard freestyle event last month. Apple’s move follows a controversial decision by “Emojipedia,” an authority on emojis, to include the “pregnant-man” and “pregnant-person” symbols in its official directory last year. Apple did not respond to an inquiry from National Review about its reasons for the decision or whether there was internal debate at the company prior to it.
In making this addition, Apple is running contrary to #Science. Put simply — and you might want to sit down for this — men cannot get pregnant. They lack the reproductive organs needed to be impregnated and give birth to a child. Only women can do so. A “pregnant person” — referring to women who reject the binary identities of male and female — is an absurd expression. However one might identify, nothing can change these permanent attributes acquired at birth. For a company driven by scientific innovation, Apple’s willing ignorance of science on this one cultural matter is a shame.