T.I.'s Comments About Daughter's Hymen Are Pissing People Off

Gettyimages | Paras Griffin

T.I. is an American trap music artist. He is best known for his 2008 hits "Live Your Life" and "Whatever You Like" and winning three Grammys. While his arrests from purchasing an unregistered gun and using drugs while on probation don't leave him with a squeaky clean reputation, fans are now scrutinizing him for yet another heinous act. Now he's most likely known for embarrassing his daughter on a podcast episode that went viral. T.I. , also known as Clifford Harris, was featured on the "Ladies Like Us" podcast.

He discussed how in addition to celebrating his daughter, Deyjah Harris's, birthday each year, he follows up the festivities with a trip to the gynecologist. He claims to leave a sticky note on her door that says, "Gyno. Tomorrow. 9:30." He explains that the purpose of these trips is to give her a "virginity test" by "checking her hymen." Instead of explaining to T.I. that a broken is not a proper way to test one's virginity, the gynecologist adheres to a waiver that T.I. forces Deyjah to sign stating that the doctor must share the results with father T.I. These trips have been happening since Deyjah turned 16-year-old.

Gettyimages | Phillip Faraone

Despite how it seems, T.I. did pay attention in sex class. He acknowledged that he was aware that intercourse isn't the only way that a hymen can break. He quickly dismissed fact telling Buzzfeed, "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.'" This rubbed gynecologist and best-selling author Jennifer Gunter the wrong way proclaiming, "hymen exams are medically not a thing", and that the so-called tests "support a disgusting patriarchal trope".

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Fans are siding with Gunter calling T.I.'s virginity tests abusive and supportive of an archaic, patriarchal standard that teenage boys should feel pride about their sexual experiences while girls should be ashamed. @TrulyTafarki tweeted, "Men’s concern about their daughter’s virginity isn’t protecting anything but the patriarchal idea that a woman’s sexual activity is her father’s shame." Deyjah Harris has "liked" tweets that speak out against her father's controlling and disturbing comments and actions. The podcast hosts, Nazanin Mandi and Nadia Moham, lightly chastised T.I. for his actions during the interview. They light-heartedly claimed he treated his daughter like a prisoner. They appear to be taking fan reactions and Deyjah's embarrassment into account deleting the viral episode on Wednesday.