Rich expanded her definition of self-responsibility into a manifesto for women's professional lives. She argued that women must 'insist on a life of meaningful work' and refuse to accept the forces in society 'which say that women should be nice, play safe, have low professional expectations, drown in love and forget about work, live through others, and stay in the places assigned to us.' This meant demanding that parents, friends, roommates, teachers, lovers, husbands, and children 'respect our sense of purpose and our integrity as persons.' Rich observed that women were increasingly finding this courage 'both in our study of women in the past who possessed it, and in each other as we look to other women for comradeship, community, and challenge.' The concluding insight was irreversible: 'Once we begin to feel committed to our lives, responsible to ourselves, we can never again be satisfied with the old, passive way.'