Is having a magic system that involves carving runes into your own flesh glorifying self harm?

Question

So the way magic is performed in my story's world is by carving runes into the flesh, and lately I've become worried that this may be glorifying self harm.

In the story, society generally views magic as a positive thing, and people see nothing wrong with it/the way it's performed—while the main character slowly begins to realize the negative impact performing magic her whole life has had on her. I wouldn't really say I'm portraying it as an inherently good/bad thing, more so a tool with unfortunate consequences. It's probably also worth noting that, due to the way the magic works, there is usually little to no scarring.

The magic users themselves, though, are definitely portrayed in a more 'attractive' light you could say, either in the form of highly spiritual monastics, or for-hire rogues trying to survive in a harsh desert environment. They're also considered an oppressed minority group.

I guess I'm just worried about the possibility of my magic system inspiring real self harm in real life. Should I change it? If not, any considerations for moving forward with it? Ty in advanced.

Oh, also one last thing, my story is a comic—so this would be portrayed through illustration rather than written word—if that makes any difference.

Edit:

Thank you for the feedback everyone! I've made the decision to change my magic system to remove the self harm element. I definitely see now how portraying my magic system the way I was planning to, especially in a visual medium, can be harmful. Thankfully I'm not too far into the planning process of my story, so changing things around should be relatively painless.

Answer 1

I think the question answers itself by being a question, honestly. If I write something down, hoping a vast audience of kids will fall in love with my vision, and really worry that kids will fall in love with my vision? I generally won’t write it down.

However, assuming your story is deeply invested in self-harm rites, attach the magic to an uncommon item. For example, even old legends kept many women safe from dragon sacrifices by requiring them to be virgin. Hard to emulate that for a good part of the population. Carving runes with a stick or a common knife doesn’t work. Specify that it’s only a knife “that has taken the tongue of a troll” which can create the magic from a fleshrune! or some such impossibility.

I stick with my first answer however, stay away from things that make you go on the internet for moral implications. Your gut was probably right.

Answer 2

While I have my reservations about it, it seems no worse than Mistborn where people ingest various metals to gain magical powers. What I will say though is that it just doesn't seem practical..? I mean how long would it take to carve a rune into your flesh when you need to do a bit of magic? Doesn't seem like it'd be quick. And what happens when you don't need it anymore? Do you then have to heal yourself? or are you stuck with it?

Why not go for something like scarification or tattoos? There are indigenous peoples across the world that practice scarification, whether for aesthetic reasons or as a social construct, the same goes for tattoos, why not use something similar for your magic world? You could have apprentices with very few marks and elders that are covered in them, they could be earned through some kind of test to move up a hierarchy and you could use them to differentiate between various orders, like healers, warriors, clerics etc. There's a ton of possibilities there that don't involve arbitrarily cutting yourself.

Just a suggestion.