By Sophia Scolman
In the first weeks of his second term, President Donald Trump issued multiple executive orders vowing to terminate diversity, equity and inclusion practices and programs within the federal government. Since then, the Trump Administration has released a list of words that should be avoided by federal agencies and has threatened to cut research funding for higher education institutions that refuse to comply.
In 2024, Karen Yin, editor, author and creator of the website ConsciousStyleGuide.com, wrote “The Conscious Style Guide: A Flexible Approach to Language That Includes, Respects, and Empowers” to help writers place inclusive language at the heart of their communication. It’s work that Yin believes is “more important than ever.”
With three decades of experience as a writer and editor, Yin has thought deeply about language that aims to include, respect and empower. Her other platforms, including the Editors of Color Database, AP vs Chicago and The Conscious Language Newsletter, serve communicators across industries and have been recognized by organizations such as The Chicago Manual of Style, NASA, and The Associated Press Stylebook. In 2017, Yin received the ACES Robinson Prize for Editor of the Year and she currently serves on The Chicago Manual of Style advisory board.
This article has been edited for brevity and clarity.
Can you tell me a little bit about “The Conscious Style Guide” and what it aims to accomplish?
In 2015, I launched ConsciousStyleGuide.com, the website that came before the book. I realized that a lot of writers and editors could use some help shaping their philosophy of conscious language. It wasn’t so much ‘this is a wrong word and this is a good word’ as much as ‘how do you choose depending on your context and the impact you want to make?’ I wanted to remind people that language is flexible and we can be creative and we have a choice. It isn’t black and white. I felt like, as an editor — I’ve been editing for over 30 years — I have a very strong framework for how I approach language, and I wanted to give some editing tips so that anyone who uses language can assess and evaluate language using this framework. Not all language that works in one situation will work in other situations — and when can you bend the rules?
What is conscious language and why is it important for journalists and writers?
I define conscious language as language that promotes equity. And for it to promote equity, it needs to have an equitable impact. By reminding people to consider the impact as well as the intention behind their words, I hope to help people realize that conscious language sometimes involves language that does not include everybody. In fact, I would say that to be conscious using language, it’s important to single out a marginalized community and to give them attention, as opposed to saying, for example, ‘all lives matter.’ Well, all lives do matter, but a lot of marginalized communities are completely erased in that. That’s why we need to say Black Lives Matter. So using exclusive language can be conscious.
I also think that the emphasis on context is what we really need right now in this political environment. I want people to realize that it’s important to use language that is skillful for the context they are in. The way I talk to my mom is not the way I would talk to somebody at work. It’s important as writers to realize whatever you write needs to be tailored for your audience. So conscious language is about having an equitable impact while you are making these decisions in choosing skillful content.
“The Conscious Style Guide” began as a website, and later became a book. Why did you make that decision, and what advantages come with the change in format?
“The Conscious Style Guide” book and the Conscious Style Guide website actually do not overlap. They were meant to be companion pieces so that you have all of the resources, such as style guides created by marginalized communities and articles I come across that add to the conversation. That’s what I have on the website, but in the book, I actually talk about how to break language down and how to choose the language that you want that is most effective for your situation.
I chose to write this book because I saw a lot of people coming to inclusive language with a pretty binary approach. And as a writer and an editor, I can think of so many situations where you might want to expand the terminology used for a certain situation. To get your desired impact, you might want to choose different language for that audience. For example, if I were hanging out with my Asian American friends, my language would be different than if I were writing a news story. In a news story, I probably would never refer to them as Asians, but I would say Asian American, and I would be more specific. I would say Vietnamese American, I would say Filipino American, but amongst my friends, we’re just Asians. There’s more of a casualness and not as much a need to be extremely accurate, but before the mainstream audience, I would be super accurate.
How did you put together the website and the book? How did these processes differ?
ConsciousStyleGuide.com came about because as an editor, I found all these resources online by marginalized communities that told you, ‘this is the terminology that we use, and we would like the media to use. This is how to frame our stories. This is the narrative that we are putting forward.’ And I thought, well, what if I gathered all of these resources online on one site? The way to promote awareness is to promote access. So the more accessible these resources are, the more people can find them and use them. So that came about kind of organically. I launched the website after APvsChicago.com became popular, which is just a funny blog about comparing two different styles. So I was able to launch ConsciousStyleGuide.com on the coattails of that one.
The research for the book was very, very different. I needed to ask myself as an editor, ‘how do I approach language? How can I break it down so that other people who want to communicate can also break down their language and arrive at a conclusion that makes sense for them, for their specific situation?’ So it was a lot of research, a lot of talking to people, a lot of reading opinions on forums, it was just a lot of trying to figure out what am I doing that people are responding positively to, and how can I teach that to other people.
You’ve done work with The Chicago Manual of Style and The AP Press Stylebook, whose recommendations may be perceived as rigid. How do you reconcile the difference between that kind of stylebook and “The Conscious Style Guide”?
It’s important to examine each style guide in the context they were made for. AP Stylebook was made for journalists. In journalism, often the turnaround time is extremely fast. With The Chicago Manual of Style, you have more time to noodle with language and finesse the style. Even the size of the manual tells you that they were made for very different contexts. In journalism, speed is really important, so it makes sense that they would say, ‘use this term and not that term,’ because it helps the user of the guide actually make quick decisions.
It’s also important to keep in mind that all mainstream style guides, they all say, ‘be flexible, consider this.’ Those are not hard and fast rules. I often see people become upset over a new guideline from one of these guides, thinking, ‘oh my gosh, now I have to do this. I don’t believe in this,’ and I always have to remind them, ‘well, if you don’t believe in it, then don’t do it.’ It’s just a guideline. It’s not like you have to. The rules are not rigid at all. It’s more like an informed suggestion.
I want to add, if you’re using the AP Stylebook or any other guide, and you have a different approach to certain terms or a way of treating language, it’s good to put that in your personal style notes and then share that with your newsroom or your classroom, so that everyone is on the same page. I think that style guides were made to be kind of like a foundation, and then you’re free to add layers of your own style on top of that.
Do people who practice conscious language have a responsibility to introduce that to others in their work and in their personal lives?
In “The Conscious Style Guide” book, I addressed this at length. There are so many ways to introduce conscious language. It’s important to remember that we actually all are already using mindful language. When you want to apologize to somebody, you really slow down your communication so that you can choose words that help you get your apology across in the right way. When you invite people to a party, you may think, ‘well, I want my vegetarian friends to know that I have vegetarian foods as well.’ So then you add some language that includes vegetarians or your gluten-free friends. We already are being mindful with language. Conscious language is just an extension of what we already do.
One way to spread conscious language is to just start using it, and when you start using it, you don’t need to correct your friends. Whenever they say a word that you think is not so conscious, you could just use the word that you think is conscious. If you want to take it to another level and actually ask them about the word they’re using, you can do so. If it’s a friend or if it’s somebody who does not have a pattern of unkindness, I would pull them aside, and I would very gently say, ‘I noticed that you use this word. I wonder if some people would receive that word in this negative way. Sometimes I hear this other term being used, and I think that that’s more inclusive, and it might help you not be misunderstood.’ It helps to give them an option, and it helps to talk to them when you yourself are calm. In the book, I talk about how it’s important to create space for change to happen. If you can create space for their minds to change, that would be a super conscious way of using language.
Has President Donald Trump’s recent attacks on DEI impact the significance of “The Conscious Style Guide”?
I think that “The Conscious Style Guide” is more important than ever. I wish that people would read the book and find out for themselves how supportive I am of a variety of language. I’m never pushing just one set of words, which I don’t believe in. I don’t believe in banning words. I believe in being creative and being contextual. So, with Trump’s administration coming out with a list of words that they want you to stop using, my first thought was that it’s so easy to come up with another way of describing those same things without using those words. So you could try to ban specific terms, but we’ll just find another plain language way of describing something, and that’s already happening. If you don’t want us to use “DEI,” what did we use before “DEI”? We’ll just go back to using that. So, I don’t feel threatened by what is being done right now. It just reinforces that words have power, and conscious language is more valuable than ever.
What do you hope readers take away from “The Conscious Style Guide”?
I want readers to know that they have the power to choose language that promotes good, that includes. If you choose language that makes sense for you, it can be so empowering. I want people to find joy in inclusive and conscious language, instead of thinking of it as something they have to do. You don’t have to do anything. If there is a phrase or a term that just doesn’t resonate with you, and you think that people are trying to get you to use it, move on to another term or phrase. Figure out who you are, so that you can make decisions that are rooted in your beliefs.
In the book, I also talk about using context to build a bridge between what your intentions are and the impact you want to have. If there is a sensitive word that you want to use even though you know it’s sensitive, my recommendation is to build a bridge to that word. Explain the history around it, explain why you have chosen it. Explain your frustrations with not knowing what the best word is and your confusion, and be transparent. Let people know that choosing words is difficult. A lot of these terminology guides for inclusive language say ‘consider this and avoid this,’ but how did they come up with those lists? If you can show some of the thought process behind the words that you ended up choosing, that would bring so many more people into the conversation, and they will say, ‘I’m also struggling with this, and I love how this writer is walking me through their process.’ If you could just expand what’s behind the scenes more often, more people will feel like conscious language is not beyond their reach. You know, even people like Karen Yin also struggle with choosing terminology that makes the desired impact. There’s hope for all of us.
Sophia Scolman is a 2024-25 fellow at the Center for Journalism Ethics and an undergraduate student in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
The Center for Journalism Ethics encourages the highest standards in journalism ethics worldwide. We foster vigorous debate about ethical practices in journalism and provide a resource for producers, consumers and students of journalism.