Backstory of a character...

Can prostitution ever be used as a backstory for a character? Ususally it just adds to the wagnst and the character feels disgusting that they had to reduce themselves to this level. It also tends to bring 'comfort' from the designated love interest, and the fact that they were a prostitute never comes back to bite them in the ass.

If I had a character who did not angst about it, actually felt okay with what he had to do to survive, knows it was a mistake, does not get comfort from designated love interest (in fact, gets a disgusted reaction), and the fact does come back to haunt him, could I sucessfully pull this off?

Excuse the run on sentence.

When I mean coming back to haunt him I mean nearly costing him his life because the government he serves does not look to well upon gay/bisexual people (and anyone else in the LGBTQI spectrum).

Can I pull this off using everything in the 2nd paragraph? Thanks for the help.

You can write about anything you want, IMO. There aren't any hard and fast rules about what to do to avoid ending up with a cliché. What's more important is why you want to use prostitution as a backstory. If it's because you want to write about prostitutes and prostitution, then research research research and go ahead. If it's because you want [terrible/shameful thing] to have happened to your character...maybe think about it a little more.

If you're writing fanfiction and are using a character you didn't create, then how the character feels about his time as a prostitute, whether he tells people about it etc. depends on the character himself. It's fine for him to feel ashamed of it and disgusted with himself if that's in character for him. With fanfiction the characters have to ring true, or else it might as well be original fiction with canon names pasted on.

Thanks! I probably should've mentioned its original fiction...