My coworker is in the process of planning her wedding. Recently she went to message someone on Facebook about it, and she thought it would be cute to include a Facebook sticker/emoji for weddings. To her surprise, Facebook Messenger had removed the boy/girl pairing, and instead added some very odd same-sex and inter-animal choices instead.
First, let’s look at the boy/boy pairing. At first this looks cute, but it was CLEARLY not designed by anyone who has been to a gay wedding. For starters, the groom on the left is wearing blush and lipstick, but also sporting a 5 o’clock shadow. This is a bad look. Second, the groom on the right has a most unflattering cowlick, and he’s wearing black shoes with a white tuxedo, a look no gay man in the history of the world has ever worn to any wedding, let alone his own. Further, the more “effeminate” looking man is rocking the flowers, but at least his lipstick appears to be on point.
Then we get to the lovely ladies of Facebook who are getting married. Both ladies are wearing matching dresses, but one of them appears to have shaved part of her head. Clearly this is a wedding from 1993, when shaving the underside of your hair was in style, though if that were the case the shaved lady would also be rocking a flannel over her wedding dress. The other bride looks more traditional, and neither are wearing mismatched footwear like their male counterpart. HOWEVER, in a move that absolutely has to be a winking joke, they’re holding a cat. Yes, the emoji/sticker for two women getting married is ladies holding a pussy cat.
And speaking of animals, if you’d like to send a sticker reflecting more heteronormative values, you’ll be using the wolf proposing to the sheep. This seems less like an “aww, a wedding sticker” moment, and more like a “wow, this seems like a vaguely political cartoon about abuse”.
Have you noticed these odd stickers running around? Is it just wedding themed ones, or are all the Facebook emojis and stickers so very, very odd?