NY state lawmakers propose ban on 'virginity testing' after rapper T.I. makes controversial remarks about his daughter

New York state lawmakers are considering banning "virginity testing" from taking place, according to a report in the New York Times.

 

The move comes after rapper T.I. disclosed that he makes his 18-year-old daughter take such a test on an annual basis to ensure that her hymen remains intact.

Uh, what did he say?

T.I. made the remarks during an interview on the "Ladies Like Us" podcast in November, saying that a doctor once told him that the hymen can be ruptured by means other than having sex, including "bike riding, athletics, horseback riding, [and] physical activity." The rapper said he told the doctor, "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 remarks garnered heavy backlash on the internet, and the rapper's daughter subsequently deleted her social media accounts.

What are the details of the legislation?

Democratic Assemblywoman Michaelle C. Solages introduced a bill last week to ban the practice.

"It made me angry, and I was just very upset," Solages said. "To use your platform to say that you did this is just misogynistic and it sets the women's movement back."

If enacted, the legislation would prevent physicians from performing such examinations and expose them to penalties if they violated the law.

Sen. Roxanne J. Persaud (D-N.Y.) introduced a companion bill in the state Senate.

"The invasive procedure of a virginity examination violates the sanctity and purity of a female," Persaud said. "Whether a child or adult, this breaches not only moral grounds, but also the privacy entitled to a female and their doctor."

In 2018, the World Health Organization decried virginity testing and recommended the practice be condemned.