--- title: Unicode Adds Period Blood Drop Emoji to Destigmatize Periods description: A blood droplet emoji symbolic of periods is headed to your phone this spring, thanks to a campaign from Plan International. canonical: https://time.com/5523298/period-emoji/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-02-06T21:03:10.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:57:22.326Z og:title: There's Now a Period Emoji for That Time of the Month og:description: It's part of a larger campaign to destigmatize menstruation og:url: https://time.com/5523298/period-emoji/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta894d771006c9ea0/698944afdb29876f32261c89/periodemoji.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4961 og:image:height: 2791 og:image:alt: Manga Anime Emoji Emoticons on blue background og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: There's Now a Period Emoji for That Time of the Month twitter:description: It's part of a larger campaign to destigmatize menstruation twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta894d771006c9ea0/698944afdb29876f32261c89/periodemoji.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # There's Going to Be a Period Emoji That Aims to Destigmatize Menstruation > Sponsored content. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically.  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Feb 6, 2019 9:03 PM UTC  These emojis have been drawn by myself and are unique, not copied or inspired by any other. I have specifically checked to see if there are similar emojis out there, this Manga/Anime style emoji does not exist. Have also been careful not to copy any comic characters by other artists. These emojis have been drawn by myself and are unique, not copied or inspired by any other. I have specifically checked to see if there are similar emojis out there, this Manga/Anime style emoji does not exist. Have also been careful not to copy any comic characters by other artists. Dimitri Otis—Getty Images  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Feb 6, 2019 9:03 PM UTC There will now be a period [emoji](http://time.com/5186512/emoji-dictionary/) in the next batch of emoji headed for your phone this spring, thanks to a joint [55,000 supporter-strong campaign](https://mashable.com/2017/05/27/period-emoji-campaign/#hp5MvHenwmqQ) created by Plan International UK, a children and girls advocacy organization, in partnership with NHS Blood Donation. It’s set to be available to use by March. The [Unicode Consortium](http://time.com/4244795/emoji-consortium-mark-davis/) approved the red blood droplet emoji to join the emoji lexicon this spring, something that Plan International hopes will help to destigmatize menstruation and normalize conversations about periods. Lucy Russell, Head of Girls’ Rights and Youth at Plan International UK, told _TIME_ in a statement that she hopes the emoji will help to end shame for girls. “The inclusion of an emoji which can express what 800 million women around the world are experiencing every month is a huge step towards normalizing periods and smashing the stigma which surrounds them. For years we’ve obsessively silenced and euphemized periods. As experts in girls’ rights, we know that this has a negative impact on girls; girls feel embarrassed to talk about their periods, they’re missing out, and they can suffer health implications as a consequence.” Russell also noted that emojis aren’t the only solution to the problem, but she considers it a start. “An emoji isn’t going to solve this, but it can help change the conversation. Ending the shame around periods begins with talking about it.” See the new emoji below. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5523298/period-emoji/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5523298/period-emoji/"},"headline":"There's Going to Be a Period Emoji That Aims to Destigmatize Menstruation","datePublished":"2019-02-06T21:03:10.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:57:22.326Z","description":"It's part of a larger campaign to destigmatize menstruation","url":"https://time.com/5523298/period-emoji/","keywords":["Newsfeed","viral"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta894d771006c9ea0/698944afdb29876f32261c89/periodemoji.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Cady Lang","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/cady-lang/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta894d771006c9ea0/698944afdb29876f32261c89/periodemoji.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Manga Anime Emoji Emoticons on blue background","caption":"Manga Anime Emoji Emoticons on blue background","creditText":"Dimitri Otis—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5523298/period-emoji/","name":"There's Going to Be a Period Emoji That Aims to Destigmatize Menstruation"}}]}] ```