FULLERTON, Calif. – Make no mistake: Whatever state you take it in, the bar exam really can’t be described as “easy.” In any forum, taking the bar exam is an ordeal, one that might take only three days of your life to complete, but three years (or more) to prepare for.

On the other hand, passing the bar doesn’t make you a genius, either. In fact, if you spend enough time around enough attorneys, you are virtually guaranteed to encounter at least one who strikes you as anything but intellectually impressive.

What is impressive? Passing the bar on the first try when more than 50% of test-takers fail – and that’s exactly the situation with adult performer Holly Price, who made the cut on her first shot.

“How did I do it?” Price, AKA Heather Swift, asked rhetorically. “Because unbeknownst to many, women in the adult industry are intelligent and can matriculate through a cutthroat Tier 3 law school and pass the hardest bar exam in history.”

One can quibble about whether Western State University College of Law is actually “a Tier 3 law school” or nitpick as to the criteria by which the California bar exam is determined to be the “hardest” in the history of bar exams, but I’m inclined to give Price a pass on these technicalities – and with respect to the fairly obvious chip on her shoulder, as well.

After all, this is a woman who likely has been subjected to one flawed assumption after another concerning her intellect over the course of her adult life, and I don’t blame her one bit if she’s tired of people thinking she’s nothing but a pair of tits with eyeballs and legs.

I can also understand Price’s frustration about the level of reflexive disrespect shown to strippers, porn stars and others who work in adult entertainment, seeing as how it is uncalled for, unfair and baseless. Such disregard is often informed by a desperate need to feel superior on the part of those who engage in it. Looking down on other people is integral to their own sense of self-worth.

It’s also true Price is far from the first adult performer to defy stereotypes about porn stars. Joanna Angel has a literature degree from Rutgers University, AJ Bailey earned a masters in anthropology, and Nina Hartley graduated magna cum laude in 1985, for fuck’s sake, so the death of the “dumb porn star” stereotype really ought to have come about long, long ago.

It’s probably too much to hope the mainstream media or the public at large ever will reach a point where it respects porn stars on spec – but we can at least hope they will give credit when and where it is due.

You know what they say: Better late than never. It’s high time to show Holly Price, AKA Heather Swift, the respect she deserves, and the respect she has earned. For those who just can’t bring themselves to do so…. Well, Holly has a parting thought for you:

“As for those who snicker at women in the adult industry and who couldn’t pass the exam: Stop laughing, because a stripper porn star is apparently smarter than you.”

No snickering here, Holly…just a sincere, hearty and well-deserved “Congratulations!”