During an interview with Nazanin Mandi and Nadia Moham on Ladies Like Us (which has since been removed due to backlash), rapper T.I. revealed that “he goes to the gynecologist every year with his daughter to ‘check her hymen’ and make sure it’s still intact.'” While discussing his parenting approach with his eldest daughter Deyjah Harris, he told the hosts that he has had “the sex talk” with Deyjah, and then went on to describe what the process is like when he goes to the gyno with his daughter.
“So we’ll go sit down and the doctor comes and talk, and the doctor’s maintaining a high level of professionalism. He’s like, ‘you know sir, I have to [ask Deyjah for permission], 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.'” When the doctor explained to T.I. that the hymen can be broken in many other ways, T.I. asked the doctor to just “give me back my results expeditiously.”
Since the interview, T.I has received an immense amount of backlash, leading him to respond to all the hate on Red Table Talk, where he goes on to tell Jada Pinkett Smith that he feels his comments have been “sensationalized,” but he also did not think his comments about wanting to protect his daughter’s virginity was wrong. He tells Jada that he wishes to protect his daughter from “the little slimy, grimy, chubby-fingered little boys who want to just come and defile and destroy the sanctity that I have.” In the interview, he also emphasized the fact that he was “joking,” that he embellished and exaggerated parts of his response during his interview on Ladies Like Us.
https://www.facebook.com/redtabletalk/videos/1803664559768440/
Since his public response to the backlash on Red Table Talk, and the numerous social media responses to some of the controversial things he said in his defense, lawmakers are taking action.
According to CBS News, New York state lawmakers introduced two bills that would prevent doctors from performing virginity exams. Similar bills were filed in the New York Senate and the New York Assembly in order to seek to ban “licensed medical practitioners from performing or supervising virginity examinations and subjects any medical practitioner who does perform or supervise such performance to professional misconduct penalties as well as possible criminal charges.” The bill would only outlaw any hymen examinations that serve the purpose of knowing whether a woman is a virgin or not.
It’s clear to see that because people are working to speak up and hold people like T.I. accountable, change is being made in an amazing and beneficial way.
Featured Image: exclaim
