Cultural Diversity and Ethical Relativism

Cultural Diversity and Ethical Relativism

Europe and the United States are cultures where issues of sex and sexuality can be discussed freely and openly in the course of the day. Evidently, carrying out research on sex and sexuality may be easier or hard. In other cultures such as the African, discussing issues related to sex and sexuality is a taboo. These topics have been prohibited among women or youth. For this reason, researchers must exercise caution when conducting studies on these topics in countries where they are a taboo. For example, in the African culture, homosexuality is a taboo punishable by physical chastisement, social isolation, and even death in some cultures (Bond, 2004).

A researcher conducting a study about homosexuality in these cultures is subject to these repercussions. These punishments are aimed at prohibiting the generation of useful details regarding homosexuality in those nations. In addition, researchers are likely to have trouble because most subjects will not be willing to participate in such studies. This is because they fear for their lives and safety. In these cultures, people may be anxious that the study is part of an organize practice to locate homosexual people. These are concerns that exist among individuals living within such cultures as well as those who migrate to other nations. When they move to other nation, they still carry their culture with them and may continue fearing for their lives. Therefore, conducting a study on homosexuality in the U.S. may still be a problem because of such people (Bond & Forgas, 2004).

Researcher conducting studies on sex and sexuality in the African continent receive intriguing concerns regarding consent and recruitment. As the above discussion indicates, issues related to sex and sexuality is not directly discussed. However, researchers who decide to dwell on this topic use topics on a standard questionnaire. This can be achieved adjusting to a multicultural atmosphere. Many people in the western culture believe that sex is a good thing. When couples are together, they always think about sex. For this reason, such couples are allowed to discuss issues are related to sex without any fear openly. Alternatively, in the African context, couples only discuss sex related issues in their bedrooms. This is because as mentioned above, issues related to sex are not allowed to be discussed in the open. Researchers have reported that while pursing the topic in the African culture, participants reviewed the topic and requested that issues related to sex and sexuality must be deleted. This is because it is a taboo to discuss such issues (Matsumoto, Yoo & LeRoux, 2007).

The African culture and American culture differ of many practices and issues. For this reason, Americans and Africans find it offensive and difficult to understand each other. Such issues and practices include female genital mutilation, circumcision, abortion, premarital sex, and extramarital affairs. Conversely, the African people find U.S. cultures and practices extremely offensive. Such issues are vital and worth of studying and their findings must be well documented. However, issues related to sex and sexuality are considered as a taboo: conducting research on these issues has proven to be difficult. Therefore, it is impossible to study such issues in the African culture unlike in the U.S. culture (Matsumoto & Juang, 2007).