Using Sex Work To Fund Law School: One Woman’s Story

While paying a lot of money to get royally screwed and then dumped on the street with little more than cab fare may sound like a metaphor for the modern law school experience, in this case, we’re talking about literal sex work. Specifically, the experiences of Tina Dolgin, who penned an essay in Harlot last week about using sex work to fund her law degree.

This story isn’t quite the same as the tale of Reema Bajaj, the Illinois lawyer charged with prostitution in exchange for office supplies. Dolgin’s past work directly informs her future as an advocate for sex workers who face terrible violence every day without much protection from law enforcement. In fact, law enforcement is often perpetrating the violence. She’s founded Red Light Legal with attorney Matthew Kellegrew, and they are working hard for sex workers in the Bay Area with the help of donations.

But back in law school, Dolgin struggled to balance her studies with her work all while worried about harassment from her classmates:

For three years, my days were full. Sometimes my days would go: studying then class then hustling. Other days they would be: internship then hustling and then paper writing. My school bag was generally filled with a mix of textbooks, flashcards, g-strings, and makeup.

In fairness, whose bag wasn’t loaded with g-strings in law school? Seriously though, the problems Dolgin faced as a sex worker don’t seem to come close to the problems she faced going to a terrible law school:

While clinging to the notions that law is “neutral” and “objective,” classrooms of 70+ students leave little room for debating the realities of their effects. For example: the overview of stand your ground laws, laws that remove the duty to retreat prior to using force in self defense, did not include any mention of the overtly discriminatory ways in which they are applied. Trayvon Martin’s killer invoked this law and received a ‘get out of jail free’ card. Marissa Alexander, a black woman who fired a warning shot at a wall to scare her abusive husband into leaving her alone, was not allowed to invoke this law.

Alright, that’s just a crap law school right there. What is criminal law without a robust inquiry into the policy determinations that undergird the statutes? That’s the only way to even understand the case law. If 70+ students are going through this class without once considering the most famous recent news stories surrounding the law, then we should be duly terrified for the future of the profession. Even if you’re sloughing off the Martin case because the defense did not ultimately invoke that law — which would require an impressive feat of numbskullery since the whole reason that incident occurred was Zimmerman’s vague understanding of his Stand Your Ground rights in the first place, regardless of what ultimately happened — there’s no excuse for ignoring the Alexander case.

In any event, Dolgin’s work continues beyond her own community as she’s hearing from even more sex workers making the jump to law school:

Surviving law school requires finding people and organizations, both in and out of law school, that can nurture and stimulate you emotionally and politically. If you are feeling alone, contact me and I will make every effort to pair you with an accomplice in your locality.

Oh come on now. “Stimulate”? Listen Dolgin: you’re supposed to be the serious one. Leave the infantile word play to me.

The whole piece is definitely worth the read.

I Did Sex Work To Support Myself Through Law School [Harlot]
Red Light Legal [Home Page]

Earlier: It’s Hard Out Here For… A Lawyer Accused of Prostitution
Lawyer Ethics Commission Accuses Reema Bajaj of Trading Sex for Office Supplies

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Joe Patrice is an editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news.