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T.I. under fire as he admits to taking his daughter to the doctors to ‘check her hymen’

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - OCTOBER 24: TI and The Smoke winner of Rhythm And Flow Season One visit "Extra" at The Levi's Store Times Square on October 24, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by John Lamparski/Getty Images)
American rapper and actor T.I. has come under fire after he admitted to monitoring his daughter's virginity (Photo by John Lamparski/Getty Images)

US rapper T.I. has sparked outrage after admitting that he goes to great lengths to make sure that his teenage daughter is still a virgin.

During a candid interview on the Ladies Like Us podcast, the ‘Whatever You Like’ hitmaker revealed that he has plenty of conversations about sex with 18-year-old Deyjah and that the two of them make annual trips to the gynaecologist in order to “check her hymen.”

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“I will say as of her birthday, [it] is still intact,” the 39-year-old boasted. “[She’s just graduated high school now and she’s attending her first year of college, figuring it out for herself.”

His comments have come under fire on social media, with many accusing T.I. - whose real name is Clifford Joseph Harris Jr - of policing his daughter’s sexuality and labelling him “disgusting and abusive.”

San Francisco-based OB/GYN Jennifer Gunter took to Twitter to slam the Ant-Man actor’s behaviour and prove that “the hymen is no virginity indicator.”

ATLANTA, GA - JULY 19:  Deyjah Harris, Tip "T.I" Harris and Heiress Diana Harris attend "The Grand Hustle" Exclusive Viewing Party at The Gathering Spot on July 19, 2018 in Atlanta, Georgia.  (Photo by Paras Griffin/Getty Images)
Deyjah Harris (left) has to attend yearly gynaecologist trips with her father (Photo by Paras Griffin/Getty Images)

She added: “If women were supposed to stay ‘virginal’ and keep sex for marriage or sex for reproduction, why have a fully functioning clitoris (only purpose if for pleasure) before reproduction is possible?”

Sexual health charity Planned Parenthood tweeted: “Idk who needs to hear this but virginity is a made-up social construct, and it has absolutely nothing to do with your hymen … Some people think you can tell if someone’s had sex before if their hymen is stretched open. But that’s not the case.”

“This is some Handmaid’s Tale s**t,” one Twitter user wrote, while another said: “This is beyond f***ed up - this guy not only takes his daughter for yearly hymen checks, he then goes on to brag about it in public. Purity culture at its most vile.”

“None of this surprises me, he’s long been someone I’ve ignored for good reason,” a third echoed. “But this is a new low and I hope someone, anyone, will pull him aside for his poor daughters sake.”

T.I. is unlikely to be bothered by professional claims that an “intact” hymen doesn’t necessarily mean that a woman hasn’t engaged in sexual intercourse or that it can be “broken” by other activities, because his doctors already tell him the same thing.

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“They come and say, ‘Well, I just want you to know that there are other ways besides sex that the hymen can be broken, like bike riding, athletics, horseback riding, and just other forms of athletic physical activity,’” he added.

“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.’”