T.I. has been slammed by bosses at Planned Parenthood for taking his daughter to a gynecologist to check her hymen, and to confirm if her virginity, is still intact.
Speaking on the Ladies Like Us podcast the musician, real name Clifford Harris, tried to explain how important it is to him that his daughter Deyjah Harris waits for the right time before having sex, saying he takes her for yearly trips to the gynaecologist.
Deyjah, who is now at college, liked tweets branding her father “possessive” and now chiefs at the U.S. reproductive health charity have waded into the dispute by giving T.I. a biology lesson about the hymen and the nature of virginity.
“Idk (I don’t know) who needs to hear this but virginity is a made-up social construct, and it has absolutely nothing to do with your hymen,” the first in a series of tweets from their account reads.
“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,” they continue.
“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.”
Experts at the non-profit went on to explain that hymens are penetrable by sanitary products, in case girls are worried about using one.
T.I. originally said on the podcast: “Deyjah’s 18, just graduated high school now, and she’s attending her first year of college, figuring it out for herself. And yes, not only have we had the conversation (about sex), we have yearly trips to the gynecologist to check her hymen.”
A number of famous faces shared their outrage over the rapper’s comments; The Handmaid’s Tale star Madeline Brewer tweeted, “This makes me feel physically ill. It’s abhorrent,” while Chrissy Teigen added: “Def did not think we would be talking about hymens today. or TI.”
