Rapper T.I. made some controversial comments last week about taking his daughter, Deyjah, to get her hymen checked to make sure that she's still a virgin - despite the fact that we all know your hymen is in no way a proof of your virginity. Now, law makers in New York are considering barring doctors from carrying out such tests after widespread backlash.
'It made me angry and I was just very upset,' said Assemblywoman Michaelle C. Solages, who introduced a bill last week to prohibit the practice. 'To use your platform to say that you did this is just misogynistic and it sets the women’s movement back.'
After T.I.'s comments, daughter Deyjah Harris unfollowed her father, step-mum Tameka Cottle and step-sister Zonnique Pullins on Instagram. While she still follows her step-mum on Twitter, she has categorically unfollowed her dad on both platforms. This comes after she liked tweets about his behaviour being 'disgusting, possessive and controlling'.
There has been some discussion about whether the comments were made in jest, however the amount of time he dedicates to talking about his daughter's vagina, and whether or not she's virgo intacta (he seems to think that the hymen is actually a sort of tamper-proof seal) still makes for uncomfortable listening.
Appearing on the Ladies Like Us podcast, he says: '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, we have yearly trips to the gynecologist to check her hymen.’
'So it’s this one time we go, I think this might have been after her 16th birthday,' he goes on. 'This is what we do. Right after the birthday we celebrate. Usually like the day after the party she’s enjoying her gifts. I put a sticky note on the door: “Gyno. Tomorrow. 9:30."
'So we’ll go and sit down and the doctor will come and talk and the doctor’s maintaining a high level of professionalism. He’s like, “You know sir, I have to, in order to share information” — I’m like, “Deyjah they want you to sign this so we can share information. Is there anything you wouldn’t want me to know? Oh, ok. See doc, no problem.
'And so then 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.” ‘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.'
All over the world women are subjected to 'virginity tests'
Again, some speculate that he's just trying to be funny. But regardless, all over the world women are actually subjected to 'virginity tests'– and they can suffer horrific consequences for 'failing'. So even if he was joking, it's not funny. His words only contributes to the misconception that virginity is something you can measure.
For the avoidance of doubt, the NHS define the hymen as: 'a ring of thin skin that covers part of the opening of the vagina. It does not cover the vagina completely. Every girl is born with a hymen, but it can break when using tampons, playing sport or doing other activities, including having sex.'
In fact, since there was so much debate about this topic when he first made the comments - one doctor actually took to Twitter to explain exactly why Harris was so wrong.
While we understand it's normal for parents to be concerned about their children growing up and moving away from them, obsessing whether or not your daughter has had sex is a bit queasy-making, and honestly jokes about vaginas – especially jokes which touch on the horrific reality of so called 'virginity testing' – just aren't that funny.
Read More:
Why Is Virginity Testing Still A Thing In So Many Parts of The World?