T.I. CRITICIZED FOR SAYING HE TAKES HIS DAUGHTER TO THE GYNECOLOGIST TO 'CHECK HER HYMEN'
T.I.is under fire over comments he made about taking his daughter to the gynecologist yearly to “check her hymen.” During an appearance onNazanin MandiandNadia Moham’s “Ladies Like Us” podcast, Tip revealed that he had the “sex talk” with his oldest daughter, Deyjah Harris. The rapper said, “Not only have we had the conversation. We have yearly trips to the gynecologist to check her hymen. Yes, I go with her.”
Tip then said that after her 16th birthday party, he “put a sticky note on the door: ‘Gyno. Tomorrow. 9:30.” T.I. went on to say that when they went to the appointment the doctor asked his daughter to sign a release. T.I. said he stepped in and said, “I say, Deyjah, they want you to sign this … so we can uh, share information. Do you have, is there anything, is there anything that you would not want me to know? Oh, okay. See, Doc, ain’t no problem.”
The doctor told T.I. that sexual penetration isn’t the only way the hymen can be broken, such as bike riding, horseback riding, and other forms of physical activity. Tip replied, “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 added, “I will say, as of her 18th birthday, her hymen is still intact.”
Tip immediately received backlash on social media. One person tweeted, “this is disgusting, possessive and controlling *whew*” Another person wrote, “’give me my results’ first of all mf, those are HER results!! Like WTF.” A third person said, “This hymen talk is very strange and at the core of it teaches your daughters their bodies aren’t theirs. Don’t do that.”
Planned Parenthood seemingly replied to T.I. as well, writing on Twitter, “Idk who needs to hear this but virginity is a made-up social construct, and it has absolutely nothing to do with your hymen. A virgin is someone who’s never had sex. But ‘sex’ means different things to different people, so ‘virginity’ does too. Many don't care what it means or think it matters. Whatever you believe, the fact is you can’t tell if someone’s had sex by checking their hymen. The hymen is a thin, fleshy tissue that’s located at the opening of your vagina. Like other parts of our bodies, hymens are a little different for everyone.”
Planned Parenthood added, “Many people think the hymen totally covers the opening of your vagina until it’s stretched open, but that’s not usually the case. Most hymens naturally have a hole big enough for period blood to come out and for you to use tampons comfortably.”
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