Cultural relativism and contraception
I don’t know if this is exactly the right place to post such a question, so I’ll try to keep this short. I’m a 2nd year University student from the US. I took a semester off and now I’m in India for a bit over 3 months working with an NGO. Right now I’m trying to compile a bunch of information about contraception for them. They are familiar with 4 methods (the pill, IUDs, condoms and sterilization) but don’t know much about most others and don’t show much interest in learning about additional methods. Now a lot of the work I’m doing is with prostitutes and those 4 methods they are comfortable with can be useless at best and deadly at worst for women with multiple partners and who aren’t always in control of the contraception used. Injections are really the ideal contraception for them, not considering cost.
After learning about all of this (in much more detail, it’s quite complicated and I’d be happy to explain more to anyone who is interested) I also decided to start talking with the director of the NGO about why it’s important for them to offer choice and not to judge the women, but to help them find the method that is best for them as an individual. I’m trying to approach all of these issues from a Western feminist’s perspective but also as an anthropologist. I realize that I can’t come in and just make this a Planned Parenthood like the ones I am familiar with at home, but I also feel like part of the reason I came here is to educate these women about the choices they do have and to push them a bit out of their comfort zone.
So this was long even though I tried to keep it short. I guess what I’m curious is about is how do you keep the balance of respecting cultural differences but also wanting to show that some things can change. Should have asked sooner as I only am here for 10 more days before I head off for 3 weeks of traveling, but I'm becoming quite introspective and hoping I've done the best I could here. It's been an amazing experience.
After learning about all of this (in much more detail, it’s quite complicated and I’d be happy to explain more to anyone who is interested) I also decided to start talking with the director of the NGO about why it’s important for them to offer choice and not to judge the women, but to help them find the method that is best for them as an individual. I’m trying to approach all of these issues from a Western feminist’s perspective but also as an anthropologist. I realize that I can’t come in and just make this a Planned Parenthood like the ones I am familiar with at home, but I also feel like part of the reason I came here is to educate these women about the choices they do have and to push them a bit out of their comfort zone.
So this was long even though I tried to keep it short. I guess what I’m curious is about is how do you keep the balance of respecting cultural differences but also wanting to show that some things can change. Should have asked sooner as I only am here for 10 more days before I head off for 3 weeks of traveling, but I'm becoming quite introspective and hoping I've done the best I could here. It's been an amazing experience.