The Law

As is so often the case, the law kind of sucks and I absolutely support you in breaking it wherever you see fit. However, it might be a good idea to have some understanding of what it is in order to stay safe. Self-injury is legal everywhere I'm aware of, but images and discussion of it may be restricted in some way.

I mostly know about the situation in the UK. If you know how the law works in any other country, please get in touch.

UK

• It is illegal to encourage suicide. Discussing self-injury will probably not be interpreted as encouraging suicide, but it might be worth being careful.
• Sexual images involving self-injury could be interpeted as illegal 'extreme pornography', in particular if they can be construed as risking a person's life or risking "serious injury to a person's anus, breasts or genitals".
• The Law Commission recently recommended legislation against encouraging self-injury, but as of time of writing (may 2022) that hasn't manifested any actual laws.