He'd meant to be more careful with his phone. He knew his five-year-old daughter had started using it to play games when she found it lying around. But some evenings he was so tired when he got home from work that he simply plonked it down on his nightstand and forgot about it.
He doesn’t know exactly when it happened, or how many times, but what his child found while scrolling on her father’s device has probably scarred her mind forever.
She came across porn videos. And she was so intrigued by it, she started searching for pornography on her own device, after figuring out keywords to find it.
By the time her parents discovered what was happening and took her to see clinical psychologist Marita Rademeyer, the girl was masturbating to the graphic videos she’d so easily found online.
This is just one of a number of such cases Rademeyer has recently dealt with at her practice in Pretoria. While she doesn’t see many patients under the age of 10, the number has grown over the past year.
“Two or three years ago the Bureau for Market Research found that one in five children between the ages of 12 and 17 were watching pornography daily,” Rademeyer says.
Fast forward to 2021, she adds, and exposure to porn is happening a lot earlier than the teen years – hence the influx of under-10s she’s encountered at her practice who need psychological help because of it.
Studies show the average age at which boys in South Africa are exposed to pornography is nine, according to The Digital Law Company, which is headed up by social media law expert Emma Sadleir.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة 3 June 2021 من YOU South Africa.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة 3 June 2021 من YOU South Africa.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
HOW TO BE YOUR OWN THERAPIST
With more and more of us struggling with our mental health, here's a common-sense guide to coping with life's ups and downs
SPUD: THE MAGIC CONTINUES
John van de Ruit tells us why he decided to write a sequel - and shares how his first book helped him find enduring love
SEX CONTRACT GONE WRONG
A Cape Town couple have been charged with using a young woman as a sex slave-but some say she lost the job she signed up for and now has a grudge against them
LIAM LAID TO REST
More than a month after One Direction singer LIAM PAYNE (31) tragically fell to his death from a balcony in Buenos Aires, Argentina, his loved ones finally got to say their goodbyes.
SHILOH HANGS OUT
THE two young women look like any pair of good friends chatting and laughing as they leave their dance class in Los Angeles.
LEO IN LOVE
He's just turned 50 and it seems Leonardo DiCaprio may finally be ready to settle down
PACKING A PUNCH
Irish actor Paul Mescal beefed up for his role in the blockbuster epic Gladiator II - and fans are loving it
I DIDN'T CHOOSE TO BE A LOVE CHILD
As the illegitimate daughter of the king, she fought to be recognised as part of Belgium's royal family, but Princess Delphine says she still feels unwelcome
'I STILL HAVE NIGHTMARES'
A bite from a spitting cobra 13 years ago nearly killed her but Mikayla survived - and she's made peace with her scars
THE CLAWS ARE OUT!
Things have grown frosty between the Beckhams and the Sussexes as Becks comes out in clear support of William