“Every scientist knows to keep their laboratory tidy.” That sentence uses the singular “they” for an unspecified person. People have used the singular “they” in this way for centuries, and major style guides accept its use. That seemingly small grammatical choice—to use the gender-neutral “they” instead of the gendered “he or she”—can have big consequences: it can make people of all genders feel recognized and accepted.

Choices in language, big and small, can affect how welcoming a message is, and that’s where the ACS Inclusivity Style Guide comes in. The guide, by the American Chemical Society, aims to help people make communication decisions that draw people in instead of pushing them away or making them feel invisible. Today we’re sharing some of the guide’s top tips on language around gender and sexuality and body size.

Language on gender and sexuality

The singular “they” rejects the gender binary—the idea that only two genders exist. For many, falling into binary thinking is easy; it’s simpler to fit people into one of only two categories than imagine the multitude of identities that people may hold. And the English language often encodes and reinforces binary thinking: “ladies and gentlemen,” “boys and girls,” “husbands and wives.” But that simplicity denies the complexity of people’s identities and excludes people.

Many groups—including Native American communities; Indigenous communities in Oaxaca, Mexico; the people of Samoa; and Hindu societies—have recognized this complexity for generations by naming more than two genders. The ACS Inclusivity Style Guide recommends encompassing all gender identities in language by using gender-neutral terms and avoiding the assumption that gender is binary. For example, we can say “everyone,” “children,” and “spouses” or “partners.” These choices will make your content more welcoming to a wider audience.

Language on body size

Another way that language can recognize the full complexity of people’s identities is by accepting body size as a dimension of human diversity. People are not in binaries of “good” or “bad” because they have a certain weight. So we should avoid wording that treats weight loss as a universal positive. For example, instead of complimenting someone on losing weight, we can focus on how nice it is to see them.

Similarly, categorizing people into the binaries “healthy weight” and “unhealthy weight” is unhelpful and inaccurate, as people can be “healthy”—an amorphous term—at many weights. And language should respect everyone, regardless of their health status. We can separate health from weight by using straightforward, neutral descriptions of size, like “lower weight,” “moderate weight,” and “higher weight.”

The top advice on language around gender and sexuality and body size is collected in two tip sheets reproduced here. This is the last set of tip sheets of a six-part series in C&EN. To see all the tip sheets and the full ACS Inclusivity Style Guide, visit www.acs.org/inclusivityguide. Email any feedback about the guide or tip sheets to ISG@acs.org.