Rich opened with a distinction that reframed the entire educational experience. She went to the dictionary: 'To claim' means 'to take as the rightful owner; to assert in the face of possible contradiction.' 'To receive' means 'to come into possession of: to act as receptacle or container for; to accept as authoritative or true.' The difference, she argued, was 'that between acting and being acted-upon, and for women it can literally mean the difference between life and death.' The speech — titled 'Claiming an Education' — became one of the most influential feminist texts on education. Rich argued that what students learned at university, 'the very texts you read, the lectures you hear, the way your studies are divided into categories,' reflected 'neither objective reality, nor an accurate picture of the past' but rather 'how men have perceived and organized their experience.' The act of claiming, rather than passively receiving, was the first step toward intellectual liberation.