2.5: Conclusion
Research is a building block of science, and without it, so many of our nation's innovations would have not been made. The early sex researchers discussed here paved the way for present day sex research. Learning how to undertake a research project is something most college students will experience during their time in college. The development of the process of research takes into consideration multiple variables with an important focus on ethics. The absolute need for ethical guidelines in research has been made vividly clear. Without policies and procedures that guide researchers (and sometimes even with them), violations that harm human subjects have taken place with grave consequences. Chapter 1: What is Human Sexuality describes multiple incidents of ethical violations throughout history and up until present day. In highlighting some of these, we see that in many cases, marginalized populations are the ones most at risk. It is important to remember both recent and distant past bad practices in order to do better. We must do better and need to both acknowledge and understand why ethical violations took place. Admitting that bias, racism and other forms of prejudice allowed for certain persons to be exploited when others remained protected by an ethical framework should trouble the reader and prompt them to learn from this shameful past.