Cultural relativism is a key concept in anthropology, but I've seen it misused to excuse practices that cause real harm, like forced marriages or female genital mutilation. If we say every culture is equally valid and can't be judged from outside, where do we draw the line on universal human rights? I've studied anthropology for four years, and I still struggle with this: we must respect diverse traditions, but do we have to accept everything as simply 'different'? The very notion of universal rights can be a Western imposition, yet without some standard, we have no basis to condemn abuses. So I ask: should cultural relativism be absolute, or should we allow for ethical universalism when lives are at stake?