‘Queen of woke culture’ sheds online mask
WHEN a former Oxford University postgraduate student set up a Twitter account to satirise social justice warriors and “woke culture”, he had no idea of the storm to follow.
The parody account, set up under the name of “Titania Mcgrath”, quickly amassed more than 190,000 followers.
Now, after months of speculation, the account’s creator can be revealed as a 40-year-old former private schoolteacher with a doctorate in Renaissance poetry from Wadham College, Oxford. Andrew Doyle says he created the Mcgrath account to mock the “woke culture” and its obsession with gender fluidity and identity politics.
Describing Titania Mcgrath as “a militant vegan who thinks she is a better poet than William Shakespeare”, he told The Daily Telegraph: “Woke is the concept that everything must be inclusive and inoffensive, that you always use the correct language and be hyperaware of other people’s sensitivities.
“This social justice movement is full of people who are arrogant, narcissistic and very certain in themselves. The idea that they could be wrong doesn’t even cross their minds. I thought Titania could embody all that. The account has become so popular because people are sick of feeling that they can’t say what they want.”
The account’s popularity has also landed Mr Doyle a book deal. Woke: A Guide to Social Justice is out today.
The name of Mr Doyle’s persona was taken from the character in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
“Titania is named after the queen of the fairies because I think all of this ‘woke culture’ is an utter fantasy world,” Mr Doyle said.
Titania Mcgrath’s jokes are often labelled as offensive by Twitter and have resulted in the account being banned four times. But Mr Doyle said that had only helped it become more popular.
“It got to about 40,000 followers and then it was banned,” he said.
“There were a lot of people complaining and within 24 hours, it was reinstated. She got 20,000 followers that day. That’s when I knew that it was going to be something big.
“After that it has just gone up and up. The best thing that happened to her was that she was banned by Twitter. If she gets banned again, which I am sure she will, then it will really help.”