Titania McGrath


Titania McGrath[1] is a satirical character who originated on Twitter in April 2018. As of March 2019, she had 200,000 followers there.[1] She claims to be an activist, healer and radical intersectionalist poet.[2] Her persona is a satire of social justice warriors and activists who promote identity politics.[3] In one of her tweets, she wrote,

“”White people are so unnecessary.
—[4]
“”Men who are attracted to women clearly have feminine tastes and are therefore probably gay.
—[5]
Portrait of Titania McGrath by Lisa Graves circa December 2018
Someone is wrong on
The Internet
Log in:
v - t - e
“”My poetry is uncompromising.
My instincts are profound.
I am feared by the powerful.
I am adored by the oppressed.
I am truth.
I am Titania McGrath.
—Background image of her Twitter page.[1]

Twitter issued a permanent ban on McGrath’s account in early December only to reinstate the account the following day after pressure from supporters.[6] McGrath wrote an account of her experience of being banned in an article for Quillette entitled “I Now Understand How Nelson Mandela Felt”.[7] She gained many more followers shortly after the ban, and probably because of it.[8]

She also maintains a presence on Facebook, albeit with fewer followers, under 1200 as of March 2019.[9] Reviews are largely negative, at under 3.0 out of 5.0, as of March 2019.[10]

McGrath claims[7] that this short hiatus gave her the opportunity to write a book, Woke: A Guide to Social Justice,[11] which will be published by Constable & Robinson in March 2019.[12] Hard cover copies are available on Amazon, as advertised on her own Twitter page.[1] Despite trying to sell her book, she is not a fan of capitalism.[13]

Just before the release of her book, The Telegraph revealed the true identity of the person behind this parody persona to be Andrew Doyle, a former Oxford University postgraduate student and comedian. Doyle described his character as "a militant vegan who thinks she is a better poet than William Shakespeare" and told The Telegraph he considered 'woke' to mean being overly sensitive, politically correct, and hatred of freedom of speech. He believes the modern social justice movement to be full of arrogant narcissists who refuse to accept they could be wrong and created his character to mock it, drawing on his academic thesis. His character is named after Titania, the fairy queen in Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream.[8]

References
  1. "Titania McGrath (@TitaniaMcGrath) | Twitter" (in en).
  2. Butter, Susannah (2018-11-23). "Inside the Bougie London Literary Woman Twitter account". Evening Standard (London). Retrieved 2019-02-13.
  3. Grant, Madeline (2018-12-11). "Twitter’s latest suspension proves motive doesn’t matter anymore". Society and Culture. Institute of Economic Affairs. Retrieved 2019-02-14.
  4. Twitter post. February 3, 2019.
  5. Twitter post March 12, 2019.
  6. "Welcome back Titania McGrath!" (in en-US). 2018-12-10.
  7. McGrath, Titania (2018-12-13). "“I Now Understand How Nelson Mandela Felt”". Quillette. Retrieved 2019-02-13.
  8. Titania McGrath: 'Queen of woke Twitter culture' sheds his online mask. The Telegraph. March 6, 2019. Accessed March 9, 2019.
  9. Facebook Community. Titania McGrath. Accessed March 9, 2019.
  10. Facebook Reviews. Titania McGrath. Accessed March 9, 2019.
  11. Moore, Charles (2019-02-09). "Why I’m a fan of Titania McGrath". The Spectator. Retrieved 2019-02-13.
  12. "Woke: A Guide to Social Justice By Titania McGrath". Little, Brown Book Group. Retrieved 2019-02-14.
  13. Twitter post. March 6, 2019. Accessed March 9, 2019.
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