Whenever I discuss my services with a potential client, I mention my conscious language review. It’s part of every service I offer, and I want my clients to understand both what conscious language is and why it’s important. So, let’s talk about it.

What Is Conscious Language?

Karen Yin, the founder of Conscious Style Guide, coined the term conscious language. It relates to “language that is rooted in critical thinking and compassion, used skillfully in a specific context.” The goal is to use language to further equity and fairness.

How do we do that?

Karen recommends that we ask ourselves questions like these:

• What are my assumptions about my audience?
• Will this cause harm to historically excluded communities?
• How will history alter the impact of my language choices?

Conscious language isn’t about being politically correct or not causing offense—sometimes inclusive and accurate language can offend people. This is about more than being kind or using words that sound good or are socially acceptable at a particular time.

When we use conscious language, we’re thinking critically about our intentions, our audience, and the potential impact of our words.

Why Is Conscious Language Important?

Language evolves, and words have power. We haven’t always paid attention to where words come from or how they were used in the past. Our words can exclude, stigmatize, or harm people, even when we don’t mean for them to. The world is bigger than just my experience—or yours. Even if a term isn’t hurtful to us, it may hurt someone in our audience.

And that’s where conscious language comes in.

This kind of critical thinking helps us identify potential pain points in our writing, like default views or biases, stereotypes, prejudices, exclusion or disrespect toward people or groups, or cultural appropriation.

We examine our language choices so we can better understand and connect with our readers. The words we use can include and show respect for people with different backgrounds. We can empower and show compassion for people. Our writing becomes more balanced and inclusive, and we become stronger, more intentional writers.

When Should We Use Conscious Language?

We should think critically about our language choices every time we write. Using conscious language helps us write thoughtfully about anything but especially these topics:

I’ve recommended revisions for conscious language issues in all kinds of projects, from books on management principles to utility company newsletters. Every writing project is an opportunity to show respect for our readers; that’s why we need to think about conscious language before we publish.

How Do You Help with Conscious Language?

Most of the conscious language issues in my clients’ work are unintentional. Sometimes it’s tough to find words to discuss a topic sensitively, and we struggle to identify our own biases or knowledge gaps. That’s why it’s so helpful to partner with a professional editor like me.

I keep up with discussions on conscious language. I work on professional development, monitor updates to style guides, and keep an eye on how language is evolving.

And I pass that knowledge on to my clients.

In every project we work on together, if there’s an issue with conscious language, I’ll flag it and discuss it with my client. We use it as continuing education, so next time they’ll know how to handle similar situations. It cuts out the angst for my clients and gives them more confidence in themselves and their writing.

Check out what one client had to say after reviewing my conscious language recommendations:

“Among everything else, THANK YOU so much for addressing [the] article and the language about [their] disability. It gave me severe heartburn how it was submitted, and I knew you would offer great insight into how to fix it.”

—Kylee Coleman, editor of Colorado Country Life

What Does a Conscious Language Review Include?

When I review a file for conscious language issues, I look for potentially harmful language and framing. I flag the issue, explain why the original language may cause harm, and provide alternative language for a revision. Depending on the situation, I may provide additional resources related to the topic so my writers can learn more about the issue.

This is a sample of the conscious language feedback I’ve provided recently for my clients.*

Equal Treatment

• If Susan’s last name is also Smith, we should write Susan Smith and her husband Sam. If her last name is something else, we should write Susan [last name] and her husband…
• Be mindful of how people are referred to in captions. If full names are used for some people, then full names should be used for everyone mentioned in that caption. This avoids claims of unfair treatment or bias. This is a common issue with how women are portrayed in the media. For a more in-depth discussion on this, refer to this NPR story.

Accurate Language

• This article references Americans, but that term doesn’t quite fit the context. Americans refers to people in both North and South America; plus, the electric grid capacity/planning also has to account for people from other nations who are traveling through the US. Consumers is a more accurate alternative.

Gender-Neutral Terms

• Is crewman an official job title that we need to keep in place, or can we use a nongendered term like crew member? If revisions are possible, let’s make that a global update.
• Sons or daughters is a great step toward using inclusive language, but it inadvertently excludes nonbinary people. Children is the recommended term.

Nonbiased Wording

• Junkie is normally a derogatory term associated with the stigma around substance abuse disorders. Using it casually in other situations like adrenaline junkie makes light of the experiences of people with substance abuse disorders.
• The phrase suffers from may be seen by some readers as judging the lives and experiences of people with chronic illnesses. Replacing this with factual language might be better received, such as those (diagnosed) with chronic illnesses and people who have chronic illnesses.

*I’ve changed names to protect my clients’ privacy.

Let’s Team Up.

Being intentional with our language choices shows that we value the people we write about and our readers. By using conscious language, we examine our work and ourselves for biases. Introspection like this can be tough, though, especially if you’re new to conscious language. So, let’s work together. When you’re ready for a conscious language review of your writing project, contact me! I’d love to learn more about what you’re working on and help you make it bulletproof!