This only makes more sense if you take into account that Jason’s death was originally planned to be due to AIDs instead of the crowbar. There are lots of ways to contract HIV, but we all know that the most common one is through sexual contact with someone else who has it. It would add a lot more meaning and tragedy to Jason’s death if he ended up dying of AIDs after a childhood of sexual abuse.

In Batman #422, we see an instance of Jason getting excessively violent with a criminal. He attacks a pimp who was beating a prostitute, saying, “How do you like being on the receiving end, for a change?” When Batman stops Jason and asks if he was trying to kill the man, Jason asks if it would have been such a loss if he was. This is one of the few times before his death that Jason acted this way, another example being when he (allegedly) killed Felipe Garzonas, a known rapist.

Batman #422

Later in the issue, we see a woman, Judy Koslosky, murder a known serial rapist and murderer known as Branneck. Judy was the sister of one of his victims, and so she killed him in revenge. Later when confessing to the crime, Judy denied that she killed a man, stating that she “put down a mad dog.” Sound like anyone we know? 

Batman #422

Twenty-two years later during Red Hood: Lost Days, Jason says something very similar after he murders a man who trafficked children and sold them into sexual slavery. When Talia questions him on this, Jason denies that it was murder, much like Judy did. “You murder people. I...put this reptile down.” 

Judy’s words stuck with Jason enough for him to loosely repeat them years later, after having his brains bashed in and taking a dip in the Lazarus Pit. It drives one to wonder what it was about that case that made it strike such a chord with Jason that he somehow remembered it after all that.

Red Hood: Lost Days #3

Okay, now. Felipe Garzonas. That’s a thing. Remembered as Jason’s first (speculated) kill, Felipe’s death is a pretty big deal. He raped a young model, Gloria Stanson, who eventually killed herself out of fear that Felipe would get her again. Enraged, Jason tracked down Felipe at his apartment and confronted him personally. All we see is Jason arriving on the balcony, and the next page shows Felipe falling to his death. It’s still uncertain whether or not Jason pushed him, but regardless, this comic stands out for a number of reasons. 

If Jason had indeed been sexually assaulted as a kid, his emotional investment in the Garzonas case would make sense. After all, it’s not like Felipe was a murderer or an arsonist or a drug lord. He was a rapist, and it was enough for Jason to take the case so personally that he killed a man over it. Jason knew what it was like to be in Gloria’s place and wanted to get justice for her, the way that no one did for him. Jason killing Felipe could be his way of not only avenging Gloria, but also himself. 

Batman #424

Jason and Mia Dearden:

Next up is Green Arrow #72, the issue that contains Jason and Mia’s well-known interaction that sparked the majority of this theory. If you don’t already know, Mia’s past includes being exploited as a prostitute and eventually contracting HIV. (Sounds an awful lot like Jason’s theorized past of child prostitution, as well as DC’s abandoned plan to have him contract HIV, huh?) In this issue, Jason fights Mia, but he also lists all of the ways they’re alike. And there are a lot of similarities between them. Jason and Mia both grew up on the streets, both got adopted by billionaires, and both became vigilantes. 

As for the sexual assault part, this issue...is vague. Every hint at Jason having a history of sexual assault is vague, because this is DC Comics, and DC is hesitant when it comes to topics like sexual assault, especially if the assault survivor is a man. (Just look at Dick Grayson and the crappy way DC’s writers handled all three of his experiences being raped.) Jason doesn’t reference anything specific, but there are definitely some undertones to what he says to Mia. 

Green Arrow #72

“I’ve seen things. I’ve done things. I know that sometimes we have to do the bad thing just to get by.” 

What “bad thing” he’s talking about here, Jason doesn’t say. You could assume that he was referring to stealing, maybe murder, but (from what I’ve seen) Mia doesn’t have any major experience with that stuff? Nothing that Jason would know of, at least. It would make more sense for Jason to relate to her through the prostitution/sexual assault angle. 

(I sound like a broken record, but I know this isn’t actual proof of the theory being true. It’s all just speculation. However, if it were confirmed that Jason was a child prostitute, this stuff would all immediately become hard evidence backing it up., wouldn’t it?)

Battle For the Cowl:

The second instance that people usually think about when the “was Jason a child prostitute” question comes up is the scene from Battle For the Cowl #3. This, I’d say, is probably the closest that DC has ever come to confirming the theory (and it’s still not even close, how sad is that). 

When Dick confronts Jason, he plays the holographic message that Bruce left for Jason after his death as a way of giving his last advice or whatever. In the message, Bruce apologizes for the way he handled Jason as a kid. It’s implied that Jason went through some pretty heavy stuff before he came to Bruce, and that the pain from those experiences is what drove him to his eventual self-destructive path. 

Batman: Battle For the Cowl #3

“What happened to you as a child...the terror, the pain, the horrors. But that secret is one that neither of us should have kept.”

It’s never specified what “secret” Jason had, but it’s not hard to imagine, considering the few possibilities other than sexual assault. Especially if it was something traumatic enough to still deeply affect Jason this late in life. Jason had baggage from his time on the streets, possibly selling his body for money, and Bruce didn’t know how to help him deal with it other than fighting crime and taking his pain out on others. 

Anyway, yeah. It’s not confirmed whether or not Jason was a child prostitute, but it would make sense if he were, considering his encounters with sexual assault victims and lifelong baggage from whatever “secret” he had before getting adopted by Bruce.