Being exposed to violent and sexually explicit content is shaping young children’s perceptions of intimate relationships.

This is the warning from Department of Social Work and Criminology lecturer at the University of Pretoria, Dr Priscilla Gutura. She was speaking as a new report has revealed that more than half of South African children regularly watch pornography.

The study by Unisa’s Bureau for Market Research’s Youth Research Unit, also found that 30% of these children are watching violent pornography on their smart devices.