You’ve probably heard about rapper T.I saying in an interview that he accompanies his young daughter to the gynecologist every year, and asks the doctor to inform him of the state of her hymen.
He’s concerned about her virginity status, he says, as if an intact hymen holds all of the answers.
The backlash has been swift, harsh, and full of pesky biology facts, but (perhaps unsurprisingly), T.I. is doubling down instead of admitting that perhaps he’s committing a huge breach of trust (and privacy).
The rapper and his wife, Tiny, sat down for a chat on the topic with Jada Pinkett Smith on Red Table Talk and honestly…we wish he hadn’t.
First, he claimed that he “embellished and exaggerated” in his original comments, and only monitored his daughter’s hymen until she was like, 16. He proceeded to whine that people took it “extremely literal” and “misconstrued and misconceived” his intentions.
Taking a page from the F*ke news playbook, he also claimed the “false narrative” had been “sensationalized.”
He clarified that he was never in the room with his daughter, only bullied her into sharing her exam results by saying, in front of her and the doctor, that she should sign the privacy consent because there was nothing she didn’t want him to know, right?
He’s just “acting out of love and protection” after all.
Pardon me while I go barf and rage, not necessarily in that order.
Still, T.I. offered this explanation…
“To think that in the age or the time when our women – black women – are the most unprotected, unattended, disregarded women on the planet, I’m being criticized because I’m willing to go above and beyond to protect mine.
And I’m talking about all of the slimy, grimy, chubby-fingered boys who want to just come and defile and destroy the sanctity that I have.”
Pinkett and Banfield-Jones were quick to cut him off, but from the recordings, it doesn’t seem as if he has plans to get how problematic he and his statements are any time soon.
To further solidify his place in misogynist hell, he admitted that he treats his daughters sexuality different than his son’s, because if his son “goes out and gets a girl pregnant” it won’t change the way his household operates on a day-to-day, but his daughter coming home pregnant would change everything. “So the stakes are higher.”
Tl;dr: T.L. sees no issue with policing his daughter’s sexuality, raising his kids in a sexist manner that reinforces traditional (and harmful) gender stereotypes, and also is unapologetic for putting his daughter’s literal business on the internet without her consent.
What a peach.