T.I. Claims He Takes His Daughter To Yearly Gynecologist Appointments To Ensure She’s Retaining Her Virginity

T.I. may need to add an “M” to his stage name after revealing on the Ladies Like Us podcast that he takes his daughter Deyjah to annual gynecologist visits to ensure she’s still a virgin — or rather, that her hymen is still intact, which isn’t quite the same thing. While it’s admirable for a dad to be involved in his kids’ health — especially in a touchy area that men often shy away from — his reasoning left many fans perplexed, puzzled, and outright offended. While T.I. says he does this for his daughter’s protection, women say he has no business trying to control his 18-year-old’s sex life.

“This is the thing,” he offered by way of explanation. “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 [sex] conversation, we have yearly trips to the gynecologist to check her hymen.” While there was some pushback from the podcast hosts Mandi and Moham, with one joking, “Somebody check on Deyjah, she’s a prisoner,” T.I. was adamant that “I think that most kids, man, in hindsight, looking back, they always thank their parents for not allowing them to damage themselves as much as they could have.”

Unfortunately for T.I., his viewpoint is not only retrograde and sexist, but it’s also unscientific. If his daughter’s gynecologist were to explain how such things actually function, T.I. would learn that the hymen can break from a non-sexual activity and it can also remain intact through sexual activity. Besides, there’s no evidence that shows that there’s any “damage” to people who become sexually active earlier in life, nor is there any to suggest that waiting offers any sort of benefits.

T.I. has been taking flak on social media ever since the episode “aired,” but hopefully he’ll be able to parse through the noise to understand exactly why what he said set people off the way it has. Check out the Ladies Like Us podcast here.