Feminist icon Gloria Steinem insists rapper Tip “T.I.” Harris is breaking the law by having his daughter’s hymen checked annually to make sure she is still a virgin.
The controversy stems from a since-deleted podcast interview in which the rapper joked about accompanying his 18-year-old daughter, Deyjah Harris, to a gynecologist to have her hymen checked to make sure she was still a virgin.
The 39-year-old rapper, who has not commented on the ensuing controversy, reportedly asked the podcast hosts, Nazanin Mandi and Nadia Moham, to delete the interview.
Insiders say the rapper was joking, but the debate continues to rage on social media.
And now Steinem tells TMZ that she thinks T.I.’s actions are a human rights violation.
“It is not his hymen, it is not his body,” she told the gossip outlet. “He doesn’t have any right to do that… You can’t invade a child’s body for anything other than a medical emergency or a medical reason.”
Steinem is suspicious of how T.I. gets the information about his daughter’s hymen from her doctor after he revealed she signs a release form allowing the medic to speak to her dad.
“There’s a power relationship that’s very suspicious there,” Steinem said. “I don’t think it sounds like free will… and the courts should be after him.”
