T.I.’s Violation of His Daughter is a Blatant Form of Misogynoir
November 7, 2019On the “Ladies Like Us” podcast, rapper T.I. announced that he monitors his 18-year-old daughter’s virginity at annual gynecologist visits to ensure her hymen is intact. While acknowledging that a hymen can break outside of sex, T.I. added, “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.”
The rapper’s comments horrified people across social media. Many noted that it was a violation of Deyjah’s privacy. Not just on the part of her father, who broadcasted Deyjah’s medical information on a podcast (presumably, without her prior consent), but for the doctors who have failed her, too. However, the unfortunate reality is that T.I.’s parenting method isn’t fringe, but the predictable product of a culture that views Black girls as lascivious beings unable to control their own desires.