Many of you might recognize Mark Salling from his role as Puck in the hit TV series “Glee”. Well let’s just say that he has done something quite ungleeful. He was arrested Tuesday under suspicion of possessing child pornography. The Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force obtained a search warrant for Salling’s home and he is currently in police custody with a set bail. This is still a developing story so not many details have been released to the public yet.
This will be the second major legal scandal for Mark Salling this year. He settled a lawsuit with an ex girlfriend earlier this year after she filed sexual battery charges against him. Sexual battery is “sexual conduct that does not involve penetration or sodomy, but does involve physical contact of a sexual nature without the other person’s consent. It often is defined as the touching of an intimate part of the body (clothed or unclothed, depending on the state) for the purpose of sexual arousal or pleasure, without the other person’s consent; or forcing another person to touch an intimate part of the offender’s body for the same purpose”(criminaldefenselawyer.com).
Child pornography is “a form of child sexual exploitation. Federal law defines child pornography as any visual depiction of sexually explicit conduct involving a minor” (justice.gov). Salling is accused with possessing child pornography, which means he has aquired child pornography in some way and has it in his possession.
Mark Salling has failed to realize that the children he sexually victimized are unable, by law, to consent to sexual pictures or media of them for his pleasure or enjoyment. Child pornography and sexual battery are two ultimate forms of blatant disrespect of consent. It seems that Mark Salling has a problem understanding what consent is. Consent is a clear, constant, and sober “Yes”. Also, he is a 33 year old man and child pornography is sexually exploiting children, there is no consent or legality between an adult and a child. He has misused his power to victimize others.
Let’s use this unfortunate story to raise conversations about consent. We need to be aware of what consent is and also know what an abuse of power is (minor and adult). As teenagers, we should also stress the importance of being careful of the content (photos, location, etc..) we post online. We are still minors, until we are 18 years old, so we need to continue to protect ourselves in any way we can. Let’s not contribute to the child pornography industry at all. We want to destroy it, not fuel it. The world is full of men just like Mark Salling who abuse their power and ignore the rules of consent. Protect yourself, provoke conversations about consent, and provide support to the victims.
