"Galvanised into action by the second trial, I was determined to change Britain's archaic sex laws"
About this Quote
The line also performs a neat reversal of who’s archaic. By calling Britain’s sex laws “archaic,” she frames the establishment as the true anachronism, clinging to moral codes that no longer match lived reality. It’s a cultural critique disguised as autobiography: her private world colliding with a public order that polices sex less to protect people than to enforce respectability. “Determined” carries the grit of someone who’s been sentenced not just by courts but by a national appetite for scandal.
Context matters: late-20th-century Britain was loosening in practice while remaining punitive on paper, especially when sex crossed into commerce and class embarrassment. Payne’s notoriety let her translate personal consequences into a broader argument about hypocrisy. The subtext is pragmatic, even modern: if consenting adults are going to do this anyway, why should the law pretend it can stop them - except to punish the visible, the female, and the inconvenient?
Quote Details
| Topic | Human Rights |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Payne, Cynthia. (2026, January 15). Galvanised into action by the second trial, I was determined to change Britain's archaic sex laws. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/galvanised-into-action-by-the-second-trial-i-was-143459/
Chicago Style
Payne, Cynthia. "Galvanised into action by the second trial, I was determined to change Britain's archaic sex laws." FixQuotes. January 15, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/galvanised-into-action-by-the-second-trial-i-was-143459/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"Galvanised into action by the second trial, I was determined to change Britain's archaic sex laws." FixQuotes, 15 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/galvanised-into-action-by-the-second-trial-i-was-143459/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.







