WTF: Rapper T.I. Said He Takes His 18 Y.O. Daughter To The Gynaecologist To “Check Her Hymen”

Rapper T.I. has described an invasive and controlling practice in which he requires his 18-year-old daughter to essentially ‘prove’ her virginity with medical sign-off about her hymen, despite there being a dozen reasons why this wouldn’t work, and several more about why you shouldn’t do it, anyway.

Speaking to the Ladies Like Us podcast, T.I. – whose real name is Clifford Harris – said he regularly takes his daughter, Deyjah Harris, to the gynaecologist to “check her hymen” is “intact”, even requiring her to sign consent forms in order for the doctor to share medical information.

“So we’ll go and sit down and the doctor comes and talk, and the doctor’s maintaining a high level of professionalism,” T.I. said.

“He’s like, ‘You know, sir, I have to, in order to share information’ — I’m like, ‘Deyjah, they want you to sign this so we can share information. Is there anything you would not want me to know? See, Doc? Ain’t no problem.’”

Photo: Instagram.

The subject came up in the hour-long interview when the podcast hosts asked whether he’d had the ‘sex talk’ with his daughter, who is in college.

“Not only have we had the conversation, we have yearly trips to the gynaecologist to check her hymen.”

T.I. said he’d been enforcing this rule for years, even leaving a sticky note on the door of her bedroom that said “Gyno. Tomorrow. 9.30” the night after her 16th birthday.

There are, of course, any number of reasons why a hymen could be broken outside of penetrative sex. T.I. said doctors inform him of these factors, but that he considers them irrelevant.

“So I say, ‘Look, Doc, she don’t ride no horses, she don’t ride no bike, she don’t play no sports. Just check the hymen, please, and give me back my results expeditiously’,” he said.

He ended the segment by saying his daughter hymen is “still intact”, and then claimed virgins are “no fun”, anyway. “Who wants a virgin?” he said. “Like really? All that work.”

His comments have been slammed across social media, including by medical professionals.

In what many are interpreting as a cry for help, his daughter Deyjah has been liking tweets against his behaviour. (She has not commented publicly on the interview.)

“This is disgusting, possessive and controlling,” one tweet read.

In a Twitter thread, celebrity gynaecologist Dr. Jennifer Gunter tore down both the myths surrounding the hymen, and the patriarchal incentive to “keep it intact”.

“The hymen is no virgin indicator, 50 percent of sexually active teens do not have a disruptive hymen,” she said. “The hymen is often very flexible.”

She explained it was a biological necessity to keep urine and faeces out of the infant vagina, “which lacks oestrogen so is very sensitive to irritants”. When toddlers become continent, the hymen begins to take different shapes and flexibility, she said.

“The hymen means nothing physically and hymen exams are medically not a thing and are unnecessary,” she said. “And [they] support a disgusting patriarchal trope.”

You can listen to the full podcast here.

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