T.I. prompts New York lawmakers to introduce bills to ban virginity testing

After Hip Hop artist Clifford “T.I.” Joseph Harris received a great deal of backlash after an interview revealed that he often requests that his daughter’s gynecologist “check her hymen” to secure her virginity; New York lawmakers have introduced two new bills preventing this type of testing in the future, according to CBS News.

Filed in the New York State Senate and New York State Assembly, the two bills seek to ban “licensed medical practitioners from performing or supervising virginity examinations and subjects any medical practitioner who does perform or supervise such performance to professional misconduct penalties as well as possible criminal charges.”

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The bill would not outlaw all medical hymen examinations but specifically, “the performance of hymen examinations on women as a means to ascertain whether a woman is a virgin.”

The bill sponsored by Assemblywoman Michaelle Solages, states, “these examinations are not only a violation of women’s and girls’ human rights, but in cases of rape can cause additional pain and mimic the original act of sexual violence, leading to re-experience, re-traumatization and re-victimization.”

“The term ‘virginity’ is not a medical or scientific term,” the bill also stated. “Rather, the concept of ‘virginity’ is a social, cultural and religious construct – one that reflects gender discrimination against women and girls. The United Nations, along with the World Health Organization, U.N. Women and U.N. Human Rights, called for a global ban on the practice.”

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T.I.’s philosophy about a hymen being intact expressing a women’s virginity has no validity according to a 2018 report from WHO.”‘Virginity testing’ has no scientific or clinical basis. There is no examination that can prove a girl or woman has had sex – and the appearance of girl’s or woman’s hymen cannot prove whether they have had sexual intercourse, or are sexually active or not.”

The original “Virginity testing” comment was made while T.I. was a guest on the “Ladies Like Us” podcast. When speaking of how he handles sex talk with his oldest daughter. The entrepreneur and media mogul rapper said,”we have yearly trips to the gynecologist to check her hymen.”

“Yes, I go with her,” he also added.

—New York state legislator’s bill seeks to outlaw hymen exams

NY Assemblywoman Solages, told the New York Post his comments were “horrifying”.

“It’s misogynistic, it’s appalling,” Solages said. “If a celebrity can impose his power to ensure his 18-year-old daughter gets checked, imagine what can be done in households across New York state?”