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Woke: A Guide to Social Justice
In Woke, Titania McGrath demonstrates how everybody can play their part in the pursuit of social justice. As a millennial icon on the forefront of online activism, Titania is uniquely placed to guide her readers through the often bewildering array of terminology and concepts that constitute twenty-first-century 'wokeness'. These new ideas often leave the general public bemused, particularly if they don't read the Guardian.
Being woke is actually much easier than people think. As Titania demonstrates, anyone can be an activist. By simply adding a rainbow flag to your Facebook profile, or calling out an elderly person who doesn't understand what 'non-binary' means, you can change the world for the better. Indeed, social media has now made it possible to show how virtuous you are without having to do anything at all.
Timely and indispensable, Titania's step-by-step guide will help you to become the woke person you need to be in an increasingly progressive world. In a non-patronising manner, Titania will explain why you are wrong about everything and how to become more like her.
111 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 3, 2019
393 people are currently reading
2668 people want to read
About the author
Titania McGrath
3 books103 followersTitania Gethsemane McGrath is a radical intersectionalist committed to cyberfeminism and social justice activism. Her uniquely formidable and humble force as a slam poet and her powerful feminist identity work on Twitter has catapulted her into millennial stardom.
Primarily through non-binary, polyracial, and ecosexual perspectives, McGrath has dutifully educated working-class people on Islamofeminism, the cult of cis-masculinity, and the necessity of groupthink to vanquish capitalism.
She has published over two books, including Woke: A Guide to Social Justice (2019) and My First Little Book of Intersectional Activism (2020).
Primarily through non-binary, polyracial, and ecosexual perspectives, McGrath has dutifully educated working-class people on Islamofeminism, the cult of cis-masculinity, and the necessity of groupthink to vanquish capitalism.
She has published over two books, including Woke: A Guide to Social Justice (2019) and My First Little Book of Intersectional Activism (2020).
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April 27, 2025
The day we adopt a troubled Woke ego is the day all ordinary peace of mind abandons us!
I hope politically engaged kids and adults will see this review as little more than a curious old dude's venture into the murky waters of Modernity - I'll tell you, I nearly drowned in the process!
But this book is absolutely, side-splittingly HILARIOUS: if, again, you take your politics with a grain of salt. Political dogmatism can be self-destructive.
People with otherwise honourable intentions tend to see Asperger's Cases - such as I most certainly am - as prime candidates for Awakening. They're what Sartre called Mouches to us! Their quick bite stuns our sensitive skin.
Why do they take such pains to educate us?
That's easy. Woke adults see those of us on the Spectrum as embarrassingly childish. The conditioning of their sophisticated primetime TV favourites tells them that!
But for them, reality is political. For us green Aspies, life is uncomplicatedly apolitical at first. Now we are "pinned and wriggling" as the Woke are Everywhere.
But Sitcoms are the ironic salve for wounded Woke egos!
Parenting 101 for these sitcoms? Grow up, kid, or ship out. Simple as that. No one has the RIGHT to have ASD in that world. Let's keep it simply outre. Cheap laughs are our Woke anodyne.
They EASE the pressure of other woke "supplements." The Supplement, as Jean-Jacques Rousseau said, is a virtual replacement for lonely Reality. A reality made cold by Woke sexual freedom.
Control the losers and make the world safe for democracy.
Or, should I say, Oligarchy? Rule by a few. "Some animals are more equal than others," quipped Orwell. How true that is now!
So, anyway, Titania (the "author" of this hilarious book) is Woke, obviously. So she gives the word Aspie a bad name.
Because she's one of the lucky Aspies who's been "educated" by those concerned adults. So she sees herself as part of them. But she's not.
No, she doesn't see herself as she is. Because at heart she's naive, and has covered up her naked naivety like Adam and Eve.
So she was an Aspie as a child. Asperger's begins as our childhood Eden, but to Titania Aspies are always only Aspies, because some of us didn't want to grow up. She didn't grow up - she Woke up, or thinks she has...
But she's only bought the Socialist party line. Lock, stock and barrel. A "woke" person has only bought into that old soft-soap song and dance.
Does she get Brownie Marks for that?
No.
Only KARL Marx.
No wonder Skinner called behaviorism a failure before he died...
***
Folks, the Titanias are everywhere now.
We can't eradicate them...
Because our Fallen mind CREATED 'em!
I hope politically engaged kids and adults will see this review as little more than a curious old dude's venture into the murky waters of Modernity - I'll tell you, I nearly drowned in the process!
But this book is absolutely, side-splittingly HILARIOUS: if, again, you take your politics with a grain of salt. Political dogmatism can be self-destructive.
People with otherwise honourable intentions tend to see Asperger's Cases - such as I most certainly am - as prime candidates for Awakening. They're what Sartre called Mouches to us! Their quick bite stuns our sensitive skin.
Why do they take such pains to educate us?
That's easy. Woke adults see those of us on the Spectrum as embarrassingly childish. The conditioning of their sophisticated primetime TV favourites tells them that!
But for them, reality is political. For us green Aspies, life is uncomplicatedly apolitical at first. Now we are "pinned and wriggling" as the Woke are Everywhere.
But Sitcoms are the ironic salve for wounded Woke egos!
Parenting 101 for these sitcoms? Grow up, kid, or ship out. Simple as that. No one has the RIGHT to have ASD in that world. Let's keep it simply outre. Cheap laughs are our Woke anodyne.
They EASE the pressure of other woke "supplements." The Supplement, as Jean-Jacques Rousseau said, is a virtual replacement for lonely Reality. A reality made cold by Woke sexual freedom.
Control the losers and make the world safe for democracy.
Or, should I say, Oligarchy? Rule by a few. "Some animals are more equal than others," quipped Orwell. How true that is now!
So, anyway, Titania (the "author" of this hilarious book) is Woke, obviously. So she gives the word Aspie a bad name.
Because she's one of the lucky Aspies who's been "educated" by those concerned adults. So she sees herself as part of them. But she's not.
No, she doesn't see herself as she is. Because at heart she's naive, and has covered up her naked naivety like Adam and Eve.
So she was an Aspie as a child. Asperger's begins as our childhood Eden, but to Titania Aspies are always only Aspies, because some of us didn't want to grow up. She didn't grow up - she Woke up, or thinks she has...
But she's only bought the Socialist party line. Lock, stock and barrel. A "woke" person has only bought into that old soft-soap song and dance.
Does she get Brownie Marks for that?
No.
Only KARL Marx.
No wonder Skinner called behaviorism a failure before he died...
***
Folks, the Titanias are everywhere now.
We can't eradicate them...
Because our Fallen mind CREATED 'em!
March 11, 2019
Hilariously enough, the Guardian gave this a rather sniffy review, totally unrelated I'm sure to the fact that the book lampoons a number of their self important columnists.
November 28, 2019
"As a millennial icon on the forefront of online activism, I am uniquely placed to to guide you through the often bewildering array of concepts that constitute contemporary 'wokeness.' To put it bluntly, I am a much better person than you . . ." -- the modest author, during her introduction
Remember when Al Pacino's character in Scent of a Woman threatens he'd "take a flamethrower to this place!"? Well, the self-proclaimed social justice warrior and pompous 'radical intersectionalist' Ms. McGrath - the fictional alter ego of British journalist-comedian Andrew Doyle - inadvertently damages or destroys a number of topics and talking points being pushed in America and elsewhere in the world by some of the easily triggered liberals, radicals, progressives, or those left of center in this occasionally sharp parody / satire book. Sometimes there's nothing more satisfying than to take the wind out of the sails of those loud or angry holier-than-thou types who are trying to ram their stances down everyone else's throats. (Because remember - if you don't agree with them, then that means you're automatically a racist, homophobe, chauvinist, etc., etc., etc.) Woke was enjoyable in the same way that I remember MAD magazine often poking fun at the absurdity of current events.
Remember when Al Pacino's character in Scent of a Woman threatens he'd "take a flamethrower to this place!"? Well, the self-proclaimed social justice warrior and pompous 'radical intersectionalist' Ms. McGrath - the fictional alter ego of British journalist-comedian Andrew Doyle - inadvertently damages or destroys a number of topics and talking points being pushed in America and elsewhere in the world by some of the easily triggered liberals, radicals, progressives, or those left of center in this occasionally sharp parody / satire book. Sometimes there's nothing more satisfying than to take the wind out of the sails of those loud or angry holier-than-thou types who are trying to ram their stances down everyone else's throats. (Because remember - if you don't agree with them, then that means you're automatically a racist, homophobe, chauvinist, etc., etc., etc.) Woke was enjoyable in the same way that I remember MAD magazine often poking fun at the absurdity of current events.
July 11, 2024
“My name is Titania Gethsemane McGrath. I am a radical intersectionalist poet committed to feminism, social justice and armed peaceful protest.”
Well, that start pretty much sums up the hilarity to come. Titania McGrath (real name Andrew Boyle?) strikes me as a new Dave Barry for the social media age, at least this book reminds me of “Dave Barry Slept Here,” the last brilliant piece of satire I’ve read of the same quality. Titania manages to encapsulate the double-think prevalent in a lot of today’s radical left social justice ideologies in a way few can do. Her Twitter is outright hilarious, and the way she can sound convincingly real and preposterous at the same time is a veritable skill.
I recommend reading this on a Kindle, as Titania has a very impressive vocabulary, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have to look up a number of words. Her grasp of the language is so firm that she’s able to see things in the letters that I’d imagine few others can see. For example, in her chapter on free speech, she noticed the following:
“‘By speech,’ wrote the orator Isocrates, ‘we educate the ignorant and inform the wise.’ I can’t be the only person to have noticed that the phrase ‘inform the wise’ is an anagram of ‘feminist whore’. Fuck you, Isocrates. Your time is over.”
Her command of language really is incomparable:
“The word ‘woman’ comes from the Old English for ‘female human’, whereas ‘man’ simply means ‘human’. Linguistically speaking, this implies that women are deviants from the norm. In order to rectify this, I sometimes refer to men as ‘unwomen’, and boys as ‘ungirls’. I likewise often refer to straight people as ‘ungays’, so that they too can understand what it feels like to be othered.”
She also has brilliant prescriptions for foreign policy:
“But here’s a thought. If a sufficient number of feminists were to join ISIS, we could turn it into a progressive social justice movement.”
She touches on all the flashpoint of the day, from identity politics and intersectionality, to ecology, to Brexit, socialism, Islamaphobia, fascism, and free-speech. If you have some time, this book can be finished in a single afternoon, maybe two hours. Highly recommend, I just hope that certain extremists don’t find it too triggering.
Well, that start pretty much sums up the hilarity to come. Titania McGrath (real name Andrew Boyle?) strikes me as a new Dave Barry for the social media age, at least this book reminds me of “Dave Barry Slept Here,” the last brilliant piece of satire I’ve read of the same quality. Titania manages to encapsulate the double-think prevalent in a lot of today’s radical left social justice ideologies in a way few can do. Her Twitter is outright hilarious, and the way she can sound convincingly real and preposterous at the same time is a veritable skill.
I recommend reading this on a Kindle, as Titania has a very impressive vocabulary, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have to look up a number of words. Her grasp of the language is so firm that she’s able to see things in the letters that I’d imagine few others can see. For example, in her chapter on free speech, she noticed the following:
“‘By speech,’ wrote the orator Isocrates, ‘we educate the ignorant and inform the wise.’ I can’t be the only person to have noticed that the phrase ‘inform the wise’ is an anagram of ‘feminist whore’. Fuck you, Isocrates. Your time is over.”
Her command of language really is incomparable:
“The word ‘woman’ comes from the Old English for ‘female human’, whereas ‘man’ simply means ‘human’. Linguistically speaking, this implies that women are deviants from the norm. In order to rectify this, I sometimes refer to men as ‘unwomen’, and boys as ‘ungirls’. I likewise often refer to straight people as ‘ungays’, so that they too can understand what it feels like to be othered.”
She also has brilliant prescriptions for foreign policy:
“But here’s a thought. If a sufficient number of feminists were to join ISIS, we could turn it into a progressive social justice movement.”
She touches on all the flashpoint of the day, from identity politics and intersectionality, to ecology, to Brexit, socialism, Islamaphobia, fascism, and free-speech. If you have some time, this book can be finished in a single afternoon, maybe two hours. Highly recommend, I just hope that certain extremists don’t find it too triggering.
March 22, 2019
And while some of her ideas sound beyond far-fetched, the real scary thing is that there are actually people out there that share some of these views. She peppers her book with quotes from real-live activists and social justice warriors. The genocide of all man had it own hashtag (#KillAllMen), and the chapter (titled Androcaust) begins with a quote from the feminist activist Sally Miller Gearhart:
The proportion of men must be reduced to and maintained at approximately 10% of the human race.
A different kind of Left
An interesting theme throughout the book is Titiana's outright repudiation of facts. She directly flips the famed quote from Ben Shapiro on its head:
The conservative braodcaster Ben Shapiro (whose opinions are always wrong) bases much of what he believes on facts, which just goes to show how useless they are. 'Facts don't care about your feelings,' he is known to say. The opposite is true. Feelings don't care about your facts. This is how social justice works. If you feel something is true, then it is true.
One she doesn't touch on, but could easily fit in right here, is Jordan Peterson's accusations against post-modernists. Titiana does give a brief summary of the theory behind post-modern thought as:
Language is the basis of reality. Nothing is authentically true beyond the discourse through which it is conveyed. This is why there were no homosexuals before the word was coined in 1868, no alcoholics before the first diagnosis in 1849, no Galapogos tortoises before they were discovered in 1535, and no electricity before it was invented in 1879.
This new unshaky ground feels like an entirely new creature of the left. Traditional liberalism founded on Enlightenment principles challenged existing institutions, the progress of science slowly tearing away society's underlying assumptions, used to be what I thought constituted a "liberal" in the American use of the word. But this new brand of the Left is decidedly illiberal and does not cite science as evidence of its ideology at all.
A new kind of original sin
This new Left is decidedly moralistic in tone. The title of her book, Woke, invokes a new kind of awakening with religious overtones, a call to action from an awakened conscience. It has its own form of original sin that can be tidily contained to straight white cis males:
Males are intrinsically aggressive creatures; in any difficult situation, their first instinct is to resort to violence. How many times have you seen a man kick a garden gnome in frustration or throw boulders at a passing owl?... Even those males who resist their base compulsions and manage to stay within the law are merely thugs in waiting.
While victims are pure and free from any wrong-doing. This is decidedly different from the traditional Rousseauian conception of human nature, that humans are inherently good if you only throw of the chains that tradition and society have imposed.
Orwellian?
The world portrayed by Titiana is frightening, but Titiana doesn't think so. In one passage, she references dystopian novels, and how they're not atually that bad:
As you try to change the world, you must prepare yourself for the predictable sneering from the ignorant and unwoke... They will brand your views as 'Orwellian.' For this reason, it's a good idea to prepare yourself by studying George Orwell's most famous novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. I recently read it for the first time, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that the society depicted therein isn't quite the terrifying dystopia that everyone claims. There are some very sensible ideas in there, actually.
It reminded me of an experience where I was discussing the major plot points of Brave New World with a group of friends, and I was surprised when many couldn't understand why the world so portrayed was actually that bad. Satire is no longer satire.
I wanted to be cautious when reading this book. Titiana's book is one massive exaggeration, and I didn't want to unfairly dismiss other people's views based solely on a straw man argument like this one. We need to be willing to engage with people fairly, and this book isn't the tool to do that. But still, I would hope this book would allow us to laugh a little bit-- and make us think a little bit too.
The proportion of men must be reduced to and maintained at approximately 10% of the human race.
A different kind of Left
An interesting theme throughout the book is Titiana's outright repudiation of facts. She directly flips the famed quote from Ben Shapiro on its head:
The conservative braodcaster Ben Shapiro (whose opinions are always wrong) bases much of what he believes on facts, which just goes to show how useless they are. 'Facts don't care about your feelings,' he is known to say. The opposite is true. Feelings don't care about your facts. This is how social justice works. If you feel something is true, then it is true.
One she doesn't touch on, but could easily fit in right here, is Jordan Peterson's accusations against post-modernists. Titiana does give a brief summary of the theory behind post-modern thought as:
Language is the basis of reality. Nothing is authentically true beyond the discourse through which it is conveyed. This is why there were no homosexuals before the word was coined in 1868, no alcoholics before the first diagnosis in 1849, no Galapogos tortoises before they were discovered in 1535, and no electricity before it was invented in 1879.
This new unshaky ground feels like an entirely new creature of the left. Traditional liberalism founded on Enlightenment principles challenged existing institutions, the progress of science slowly tearing away society's underlying assumptions, used to be what I thought constituted a "liberal" in the American use of the word. But this new brand of the Left is decidedly illiberal and does not cite science as evidence of its ideology at all.
A new kind of original sin
This new Left is decidedly moralistic in tone. The title of her book, Woke, invokes a new kind of awakening with religious overtones, a call to action from an awakened conscience. It has its own form of original sin that can be tidily contained to straight white cis males:
Males are intrinsically aggressive creatures; in any difficult situation, their first instinct is to resort to violence. How many times have you seen a man kick a garden gnome in frustration or throw boulders at a passing owl?... Even those males who resist their base compulsions and manage to stay within the law are merely thugs in waiting.
While victims are pure and free from any wrong-doing. This is decidedly different from the traditional Rousseauian conception of human nature, that humans are inherently good if you only throw of the chains that tradition and society have imposed.
Orwellian?
The world portrayed by Titiana is frightening, but Titiana doesn't think so. In one passage, she references dystopian novels, and how they're not atually that bad:
As you try to change the world, you must prepare yourself for the predictable sneering from the ignorant and unwoke... They will brand your views as 'Orwellian.' For this reason, it's a good idea to prepare yourself by studying George Orwell's most famous novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. I recently read it for the first time, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that the society depicted therein isn't quite the terrifying dystopia that everyone claims. There are some very sensible ideas in there, actually.
It reminded me of an experience where I was discussing the major plot points of Brave New World with a group of friends, and I was surprised when many couldn't understand why the world so portrayed was actually that bad. Satire is no longer satire.
I wanted to be cautious when reading this book. Titiana's book is one massive exaggeration, and I didn't want to unfairly dismiss other people's views based solely on a straw man argument like this one. We need to be willing to engage with people fairly, and this book isn't the tool to do that. But still, I would hope this book would allow us to laugh a little bit-- and make us think a little bit too.
January 16, 2021
🤣🤣🤣 Brilliant. I am now Woke AF. And am suitably ashamed of my white, cis-gender toxic masculinity 👍
January 19, 2020
I'm definitely not the target demographic for this, being the exact type of left-wing, plant-based feminist killjoy it lampoons. That said, I don't mind being challenged and am a big fan of satire as a medium, so I was intrigued and tried to keep an open mind.
Unfortunately, this book brings very little fresh material to the table. It attacks the same strawmen as those deployed by any teenage edgelord on the internet, and is dismissively simplistic about issues it clearly doesn't understand. I know it's satire etc etc but I find its approach lazy and unoriginal, with no desire to engage with the ideologies it attacks on any but the shallowest level in order to better understand them, or indeed to critique them meaningfully. A certain kind of person will love this, I suspect mostly because it confirms their existing ideas and gives them a pat on the back rather than because it has anything to add to the conversation.
So - I didn't hate it as much as I expected to and parts of it were genuinely entertaining, but it definitely wasn't for me and I can't say I liked it, or even found it ok. I suppose that means I'm 'triggered', but actually I just feel so very tired.
Unfortunately, this book brings very little fresh material to the table. It attacks the same strawmen as those deployed by any teenage edgelord on the internet, and is dismissively simplistic about issues it clearly doesn't understand. I know it's satire etc etc but I find its approach lazy and unoriginal, with no desire to engage with the ideologies it attacks on any but the shallowest level in order to better understand them, or indeed to critique them meaningfully. A certain kind of person will love this, I suspect mostly because it confirms their existing ideas and gives them a pat on the back rather than because it has anything to add to the conversation.
So - I didn't hate it as much as I expected to and parts of it were genuinely entertaining, but it definitely wasn't for me and I can't say I liked it, or even found it ok. I suppose that means I'm 'triggered', but actually I just feel so very tired.
December 27, 2024
The «Fuck the Patriarchy» chapter was genius.
From the «Islamofeminism» chapter:
"There has been much made in the press recently of women in Iran who are risking arrest by dancing in public and refusing to cover their hair as a form of protest. One woman was sentenced to two years in prison when footage of her removing her hijab was shared widely on social media. But as Western feminists such as Linda Sarsour will tell you, the hijab is a symbol of empowerment. Sharia law, Sarsour informs us, is ‘reasonable’ and ‘makes a lot of sense’.
So just what do these Iranian protesters think they are doing? Do they have any idea how difficult they are making it for Western feminists to smash the patriarchy? Just cover your fucking hair, bitches."
The geography of compulsory hijab
پینوشت: در این نقشه همهی مناطقی از جهان را میبینید که در آنها حجاب اجباری است
March 27, 2019
This book is a rightly done satire by someone who obviously took careful time to study how the SJW's mind works. It's sometimes so close to reality that it doesn't even sounds like a satire, which is a little scary and probably explains why the Guardian didn't like the book so much. The author exposes in a grandiose and hilarious way the contradictions and sophisms of the "woke" left (Whoever follows Titania on Twitter will understand what I mean). This book should be given as a gift to all your "woke" friends.
April 3, 2019
Being a cis-heterosexual male, after reading this, I'm committing suicide. (if I don't die of laughter)
September 21, 2020
If I could give this book zero stars - then I would.
The problem with right wingers who think they are funny is - they are not.
Here we have a bloke - Andrew Doyle - who thinks he is so much funnier if he is a woman: Titania McGrath. The book supposedly attacks feminists, gays, lesbians, the working class, socialists, people who supported remaining in the EU...
We see - as is common from Alt-Right commentators - the construction of straw men, straw women, straw trans, straw humans. Then this comedian supposedly repurposes the truth for comedy.
You've guessed it. There is no truth here. And wow - it is so unfunny - I cringed through it.
I want a proper discussion of consciousness. I am bored by attacks on 'identity politics' that summon an imaginary enemy and pretend the resultant prose is significant.
Yawn. Don't buy it. This book is dreadful.
The problem with right wingers who think they are funny is - they are not.
Here we have a bloke - Andrew Doyle - who thinks he is so much funnier if he is a woman: Titania McGrath. The book supposedly attacks feminists, gays, lesbians, the working class, socialists, people who supported remaining in the EU...
We see - as is common from Alt-Right commentators - the construction of straw men, straw women, straw trans, straw humans. Then this comedian supposedly repurposes the truth for comedy.
You've guessed it. There is no truth here. And wow - it is so unfunny - I cringed through it.
I want a proper discussion of consciousness. I am bored by attacks on 'identity politics' that summon an imaginary enemy and pretend the resultant prose is significant.
Yawn. Don't buy it. This book is dreadful.
June 15, 2023
Racist trash passing itself off as satire.
Yikes on bikes folks.
Why are racist white people like this?
Yikes on bikes folks.
Why are racist white people like this?
March 23, 2021
0
Quando, sob a capa do humor, as maiores atrocidades são ditas sobre os movimentos que lutam pela igualdade, englobando todos os ativistas numa mesma capa de histerismo delirante.
Absolutamente desnecessário que o foco seja voltado para uma minoria que não representa o trabalho imenso que tem sido travado ao longo das últimas décadas pela representação da diversidade e pela inclusão.
Curioso que um homem branco, heteronormativo, com estudos universitários e de classe alta se tenha passado por uma mulher nas redes sociais e a partir daí criasse uma personagem sem sentido que lhe deu argumentos a ele próprio para criticar ativistas.
Demasiado rebuscado? Sim. Tal como a agenda política por trás deste humor sem piada. Não fosse isso e o autor seria apenas um típico troll da internet a editar um livro. Ou aquele familiar incómodo que temos de aturar com os seus comentários que começam por “no meu tempo isto não era possível!”
Espero que, ao contrário de todas as pessoas que, cada uma à sua forma, lutam diariamente (e porque não apenas - algo que o autor tanto satiriza - com um ícone no Instagram? o poder do símbolo e da associação não devem ser desprezados) por um mundo melhor, este livro caia para debaixo de uma mesa perdida. Ou lhe sirva de calço.
Talvez aí encontre a utilidade que merece.
Quando, sob a capa do humor, as maiores atrocidades são ditas sobre os movimentos que lutam pela igualdade, englobando todos os ativistas numa mesma capa de histerismo delirante.
Absolutamente desnecessário que o foco seja voltado para uma minoria que não representa o trabalho imenso que tem sido travado ao longo das últimas décadas pela representação da diversidade e pela inclusão.
Curioso que um homem branco, heteronormativo, com estudos universitários e de classe alta se tenha passado por uma mulher nas redes sociais e a partir daí criasse uma personagem sem sentido que lhe deu argumentos a ele próprio para criticar ativistas.
Demasiado rebuscado? Sim. Tal como a agenda política por trás deste humor sem piada. Não fosse isso e o autor seria apenas um típico troll da internet a editar um livro. Ou aquele familiar incómodo que temos de aturar com os seus comentários que começam por “no meu tempo isto não era possível!”
Espero que, ao contrário de todas as pessoas que, cada uma à sua forma, lutam diariamente (e porque não apenas - algo que o autor tanto satiriza - com um ícone no Instagram? o poder do símbolo e da associação não devem ser desprezados) por um mundo melhor, este livro caia para debaixo de uma mesa perdida. Ou lhe sirva de calço.
Talvez aí encontre a utilidade que merece.
March 8, 2020
Brilliant. Hilarious. If satire could cut, this would be the sharpest obsidian blade.
This reminds me of fun conversations I had with some friends, in which we try to trump eachother in ironic claims of "social justice", "wokeness" and "political correctness" gone awry. It's a source of endless creativity, and of hilarity as well. The hardest thing to do is not to come up with bizarre things some radical SJW's would say, but to keep your face straight as the ridiculousness escalates almost exponentially. Some sentences and remarks were similar to the ones I have experienced in these playful discussions.
It both amuses and frightens me that there probably are a lot of people who would take this book seriously and would even prize it to be the epitome of being woke. If reality and satire become harder and harder to distinguish, it becomes a scary world. With the knowledge that these people exist and are often politically active, I am awake alright... But am I woke?
This book effectively demonstrates, through irony and shockingly real quotes, that radical intersectional feminism often is a façade of "social justice and equality" to cover up their own irrational beliefs, misogyny, misandry, racism (racism of lower expectations, anyone?) and political instrumentalization of victimhood, with inherently dubious theories about identity and power to justify their own games of manipulation and hunger for power and influence. Together with deep undertones of nihilism, narcissism, bitterness, and animosity against anyone who disagrees with their socio-politico-economic viewpoints. The more I learn about these radical waves of "feminism", the more I believe they pose the greatest threat to the flourishing of both men, women and trans people, and tackling social issues in general. This is not what the world needs. A more reasonable and benign humanism/feminism would serve us all more.
This reminds me of fun conversations I had with some friends, in which we try to trump eachother in ironic claims of "social justice", "wokeness" and "political correctness" gone awry. It's a source of endless creativity, and of hilarity as well. The hardest thing to do is not to come up with bizarre things some radical SJW's would say, but to keep your face straight as the ridiculousness escalates almost exponentially. Some sentences and remarks were similar to the ones I have experienced in these playful discussions.
It both amuses and frightens me that there probably are a lot of people who would take this book seriously and would even prize it to be the epitome of being woke. If reality and satire become harder and harder to distinguish, it becomes a scary world. With the knowledge that these people exist and are often politically active, I am awake alright... But am I woke?
This book effectively demonstrates, through irony and shockingly real quotes, that radical intersectional feminism often is a façade of "social justice and equality" to cover up their own irrational beliefs, misogyny, misandry, racism (racism of lower expectations, anyone?) and political instrumentalization of victimhood, with inherently dubious theories about identity and power to justify their own games of manipulation and hunger for power and influence. Together with deep undertones of nihilism, narcissism, bitterness, and animosity against anyone who disagrees with their socio-politico-economic viewpoints. The more I learn about these radical waves of "feminism", the more I believe they pose the greatest threat to the flourishing of both men, women and trans people, and tackling social issues in general. This is not what the world needs. A more reasonable and benign humanism/feminism would serve us all more.
August 22, 2020
One star off for the intentionally bad, but still pretty godawful, poetry selections. Interesting to read online on 18 Aug that Tatiana McGrath's Twitter account was 'temporarily suspended' ... Proof that one can, indeed, be too 'woke' for one's own good.
Review to follow.
Review to follow.
March 9, 2019
Hilarious, as well as a worrying indication of what's to come as satire becomes reality at record speed.
March 24, 2019
Spoiler alert. If you don't already know, Titania McGrath doesn't actually exist. This book is a satire written by Doctor Andrew Doyle. He created Titania on Twitter to parody the sort of “woke” activists that may be found there in abundance.
I am going to refer to Titania McGrath as the author most of the time, rather than Andrew Doyle. It is just easier than having to explain that it is Titania that is speaking rather than Doyle himself. I have no idea what Doyle’s actual beliefs are, but I think that we can assume that he doesn’t share them with Titania, otherwise the book wouldn’t be a satire, it would just be a sad commentary on 21st century “woke” politics.
In case you aren’t familiar with the term “woke”, it means someone who is alert to social injustice, and wow, is Titania alert. I think that the term has probably emerged from the popular phrase “Wake up and smell the coffee” but I have no hard evidence for that so don’t quote me on it.
At the heart of “woke” philosophy is that everyone can claim victim status, based mainly on their “identity”, except for white males, and white females who aren’t also feminist activists. Even some actual feminists are excluded from the “woke” club because of their views on some issues of social justice. Germain Greer managed to get herself banned from the club because she wasn’t supportive enough of trans women or, as Titanaia would have it, trans womxn.
The book takes us through chapter after chapter of Titania’s views on social injustice in all its forms with the exception of genuine social injustice. Poverty and poor housing, for example, are mentioned only in passing and then only in terms of the way they intersect with other identity politics. Yes, this is all about identity. If you identify as something then you are that thing, regardless of whether or not you really are. Titania, for example, isn’t a privileged, wealthy, white, middle class, heterosexual woman because she identifies with all the minority groups she writes about. She is one of them, without having to go through the inconvenience of being one of them.
Titania is also very concerned with “intersectionality”. This is something I had to look up, because Titania doesn’t explain it until quite late in the book. Intersectionality is the way that one minority group intersects with another minority group to create a new minority group. I would compare it to a sort of social justice bingo.
For example, if you are a feminist you can tick the feminist box. If you are also from an ethnic minority you get to put a tick in that box as well. If you are transgender then you get to tick that box and so on. If you manage to tick all the boxes, you win the jackpot of social injustice and get an arts centre named after you at a university no-one has ever heard of.
Of course, one of the main jokes in the book is that while Titania describes herself as a social justice activist, she doesn’t actually do anything, except send a few Tweets to prove she is an activist. She quotes a lot of writers on the subjects she writes about, but has never read any of their books, she only regurgitates the quotes that every other “woke” person is regurgitating.
The inherent irony of this book is that there would be no “woke” ideology if it wasn’t for the fact that there is genuine social injustice in the world. The problem is that you don’t solve that by Tweeting about it, you do something about it by going into politics and changing the world. But that is hard work so Titania won’t do that. Although it doesn’t say as much in the book, Titania wouldn’t take part in a protest march, for example, in case it rains. Besides, she will almost certainly have a pedicure booked for that day.
Titania represents the sort of “woke” that is the virtue signalling world of saying a lot and doing nothing. Something I have said as a joke many times is “Spiritually I’m a vegan. It’s just that I eat meat”. It is exactly the sort of thing that Titania might say, but she wouldn't be joking.
Interspersed between the chapters are examples of Titania’s “Slam” poetry. It is truly execrable and it could only be written by someone who has a very good understanding of poetry. Fortunately Andrew Doyle has a Phd in the subject. William McGonigal was a bad poet, but Titania plummets to new depths with her efforts. If you want to know what “slam” poetry is, you'll have to Google it.
This is an example of some of Titania’s “finest” work:
Rabid Dreams cut my lips
Screamways into silence
As I tear the spleen from the mulish beekeeper
To spill hurtly onto a blackblue horizon
Like a superstitious louse on a whore’s crotch.
Well, the full poem served to fill a page in a very short book.
Why only 3 stars? In the end, the book is based on a single joke, which is only slightly varied in each chapter. I’m afraid that after a while reading the book was like watching the TV channel Dave for 7 consecutive days – you end up hearing the same joke time after time so it loses its humorous value and becomes irritating. I think the best way to enjoy Titania McGrath is in her 280 character works of “wisdom” on Twitter. A full-length book (actually it’s only 160 pages) just doesn’t support the humour that well.
It was funny, in it's way, but not that funny.
I am going to refer to Titania McGrath as the author most of the time, rather than Andrew Doyle. It is just easier than having to explain that it is Titania that is speaking rather than Doyle himself. I have no idea what Doyle’s actual beliefs are, but I think that we can assume that he doesn’t share them with Titania, otherwise the book wouldn’t be a satire, it would just be a sad commentary on 21st century “woke” politics.
In case you aren’t familiar with the term “woke”, it means someone who is alert to social injustice, and wow, is Titania alert. I think that the term has probably emerged from the popular phrase “Wake up and smell the coffee” but I have no hard evidence for that so don’t quote me on it.
At the heart of “woke” philosophy is that everyone can claim victim status, based mainly on their “identity”, except for white males, and white females who aren’t also feminist activists. Even some actual feminists are excluded from the “woke” club because of their views on some issues of social justice. Germain Greer managed to get herself banned from the club because she wasn’t supportive enough of trans women or, as Titanaia would have it, trans womxn.
The book takes us through chapter after chapter of Titania’s views on social injustice in all its forms with the exception of genuine social injustice. Poverty and poor housing, for example, are mentioned only in passing and then only in terms of the way they intersect with other identity politics. Yes, this is all about identity. If you identify as something then you are that thing, regardless of whether or not you really are. Titania, for example, isn’t a privileged, wealthy, white, middle class, heterosexual woman because she identifies with all the minority groups she writes about. She is one of them, without having to go through the inconvenience of being one of them.
Titania is also very concerned with “intersectionality”. This is something I had to look up, because Titania doesn’t explain it until quite late in the book. Intersectionality is the way that one minority group intersects with another minority group to create a new minority group. I would compare it to a sort of social justice bingo.
For example, if you are a feminist you can tick the feminist box. If you are also from an ethnic minority you get to put a tick in that box as well. If you are transgender then you get to tick that box and so on. If you manage to tick all the boxes, you win the jackpot of social injustice and get an arts centre named after you at a university no-one has ever heard of.
Of course, one of the main jokes in the book is that while Titania describes herself as a social justice activist, she doesn’t actually do anything, except send a few Tweets to prove she is an activist. She quotes a lot of writers on the subjects she writes about, but has never read any of their books, she only regurgitates the quotes that every other “woke” person is regurgitating.
The inherent irony of this book is that there would be no “woke” ideology if it wasn’t for the fact that there is genuine social injustice in the world. The problem is that you don’t solve that by Tweeting about it, you do something about it by going into politics and changing the world. But that is hard work so Titania won’t do that. Although it doesn’t say as much in the book, Titania wouldn’t take part in a protest march, for example, in case it rains. Besides, she will almost certainly have a pedicure booked for that day.
Titania represents the sort of “woke” that is the virtue signalling world of saying a lot and doing nothing. Something I have said as a joke many times is “Spiritually I’m a vegan. It’s just that I eat meat”. It is exactly the sort of thing that Titania might say, but she wouldn't be joking.
Interspersed between the chapters are examples of Titania’s “Slam” poetry. It is truly execrable and it could only be written by someone who has a very good understanding of poetry. Fortunately Andrew Doyle has a Phd in the subject. William McGonigal was a bad poet, but Titania plummets to new depths with her efforts. If you want to know what “slam” poetry is, you'll have to Google it.
This is an example of some of Titania’s “finest” work:
Rabid Dreams cut my lips
Screamways into silence
As I tear the spleen from the mulish beekeeper
To spill hurtly onto a blackblue horizon
Like a superstitious louse on a whore’s crotch.
Well, the full poem served to fill a page in a very short book.
Why only 3 stars? In the end, the book is based on a single joke, which is only slightly varied in each chapter. I’m afraid that after a while reading the book was like watching the TV channel Dave for 7 consecutive days – you end up hearing the same joke time after time so it loses its humorous value and becomes irritating. I think the best way to enjoy Titania McGrath is in her 280 character works of “wisdom” on Twitter. A full-length book (actually it’s only 160 pages) just doesn’t support the humour that well.
It was funny, in it's way, but not that funny.
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February 24, 2022
This was a little too on the nose in many places.
Essentially, it's a send-up of the worst tendencies some self-consciously progressive people have. Titania McGrath (a satirical figure from Andrew Doyle) is unashamedly 'woke': her primary pastime is reciting feminist slam poetry at vegan cafes, she doesn't speak to her father because of his toxic masculinity (i.e. he is male), and so on.
At times, Titania IS funny. I read this book because I've seen her tweets, and in short doses they're superb at skewering some of the worst excesses of the left - biological males winning female sports trophies, that sort of thing. But even though this book is short, some of the humour is lost when we get into a more extended form of writing than tweets.
Essentially, it's a send-up of the worst tendencies some self-consciously progressive people have. Titania McGrath (a satirical figure from Andrew Doyle) is unashamedly 'woke': her primary pastime is reciting feminist slam poetry at vegan cafes, she doesn't speak to her father because of his toxic masculinity (i.e. he is male), and so on.
At times, Titania IS funny. I read this book because I've seen her tweets, and in short doses they're superb at skewering some of the worst excesses of the left - biological males winning female sports trophies, that sort of thing. But even though this book is short, some of the humour is lost when we get into a more extended form of writing than tweets.
April 14, 2019
Very funny book - get it now and in paper form before Amazon ban it or delete it from your Kindle
May 3, 2019
This book, although written on a lighter tone, has nothing to do with fun! It is not funny! OK, I understand that certain phrases, in their hyperbole, resembles a satire, but it is not a satirical book.
This is a WAKE UP call! There is not a single page of this book that didn't make me think "OMG ... there are people out there who actually BELIEVE these things - and if they had the guts they would had been outspoken preachers of Titania's doctrines".
PS The last chapter of the book about jokes and stand up comedies is probably a grim prediction about the fate of personas like Titania, who undermine the political correct establishment... TO BE CENSORED!
This is a WAKE UP call! There is not a single page of this book that didn't make me think "OMG ... there are people out there who actually BELIEVE these things - and if they had the guts they would had been outspoken preachers of Titania's doctrines".
PS The last chapter of the book about jokes and stand up comedies is probably a grim prediction about the fate of personas like Titania, who undermine the political correct establishment... TO BE CENSORED!
March 10, 2019
Almost as funny as Laurie Penny’s books
Satire for those who find wokeness baffling. Can be read in an afternoon. Perhaps a stocking filler around Christmas time.
Satire for those who find wokeness baffling. Can be read in an afternoon. Perhaps a stocking filler around Christmas time.
February 6, 2020
Can you write about social justice and be funny? Probably, but this book doesn't manage it. It's mean spirited and unnecessarily offensive. Wait...what are we supposed to be laughing at?
June 3, 2019
The craziest thing about this is while the book itself is satire... the quotes "Titania" uses to justify her brand of crazy are real. It's entertaining and I am also amazed by how fucking insane Laurie Penny, Sally Miller Gearhart and the like are. And they are celebrated for it! Something to think about.
March 22, 2024
A shoutout to this classic on it's 5th birthday.
https://youtu.be/r3iGYy2JS7w
https://youtu.be/r3iGYy2JS7w
February 17, 2020
Absolutely hilarious.
I don’t think I’ve read a satire that so perfectly spotlights the absolute absurdity that is the “woke” culture.
McGrath (a pseudonym for columnist Andrew Doyle) is the perfect author to lampoon the social justice platform and look like a complete moron doing it.
The highlights here are far too numerous to count, but when she says she “teabag(s) the foes of justice with (her) gender neutral scrotum” and will “suckle the babes of hope with sinewy teats of equality”, you know you’re in for a riot.
Did you know that “all knowledge is a patriarchal construct because it has been acquired over centuries of male totalitarianism”? And that “every time a man speaks, therefore, he is contributing to a culture of androcentric hegemony”? It’s a good thing that McGrath encourages women to never stop talking, “even when (they) have nothing to say”.
And I’m so glad that she’s doing that because men are total dogs. According to her men “sometimes pleasure themselves when they at alone and think about the women they know”. How horrible! How ghastly that there are few examples of misogyny more “virulent than a man finding a woman attractive”.
The fact that she can be so adamant about the horrible patriarchy is so brave. That she can stand up for females and claim “(e)very sperm is an invader” that “seeks to wriggle its way into (a woman’s) body to penetrate the very soul, to filch away potential for the sake a bawling sprog who will only grow to resent you” is a feat that deserves every award known to man (oops, I mean humankind). When she says that the “sperm is the bullet” and the phallus is the machine gun” I instantly started a petition for this book to win the novel peace prize for literature.
All kidding aside, Woke is laugh out loud funny. Even as a joke/satire, and as something that’s not supposed to be taken 100% seriously, this should be required reading, as it’s a perfect example of just how crazy SJWs and feminazis have become in their pursuit of social justice.
I can only hope this book draws in millions of self loathing hypocrites, thinking this is a practical guide to be woke, only to be hit in the face with their asinine behavior and beliefs.
I don’t think I’ve read a satire that so perfectly spotlights the absolute absurdity that is the “woke” culture.
McGrath (a pseudonym for columnist Andrew Doyle) is the perfect author to lampoon the social justice platform and look like a complete moron doing it.
The highlights here are far too numerous to count, but when she says she “teabag(s) the foes of justice with (her) gender neutral scrotum” and will “suckle the babes of hope with sinewy teats of equality”, you know you’re in for a riot.
Did you know that “all knowledge is a patriarchal construct because it has been acquired over centuries of male totalitarianism”? And that “every time a man speaks, therefore, he is contributing to a culture of androcentric hegemony”? It’s a good thing that McGrath encourages women to never stop talking, “even when (they) have nothing to say”.
And I’m so glad that she’s doing that because men are total dogs. According to her men “sometimes pleasure themselves when they at alone and think about the women they know”. How horrible! How ghastly that there are few examples of misogyny more “virulent than a man finding a woman attractive”.
The fact that she can be so adamant about the horrible patriarchy is so brave. That she can stand up for females and claim “(e)very sperm is an invader” that “seeks to wriggle its way into (a woman’s) body to penetrate the very soul, to filch away potential for the sake a bawling sprog who will only grow to resent you” is a feat that deserves every award known to man (oops, I mean humankind). When she says that the “sperm is the bullet” and the phallus is the machine gun” I instantly started a petition for this book to win the novel peace prize for literature.
All kidding aside, Woke is laugh out loud funny. Even as a joke/satire, and as something that’s not supposed to be taken 100% seriously, this should be required reading, as it’s a perfect example of just how crazy SJWs and feminazis have become in their pursuit of social justice.
I can only hope this book draws in millions of self loathing hypocrites, thinking this is a practical guide to be woke, only to be hit in the face with their asinine behavior and beliefs.
July 17, 2019
Was given this as a gift and had no idea it was satire until after the first few pages - had to google the author to question what crap I'd been given. Ah.. Titania does not exist. Got it.
There are sections of this book that are really funny and hit exactly the right spot for satire. There are other bits which aren't clever enough to be comedy and just come off as bashing opposing points of view (which is ironically what the real author is supposed to be criticising Titania and her ilk for doing). In my opinion, Titania is much more suited to a Twitter feed and comedy sketches. Not enough material for a book.
I kind of feel like it'll be mostly white blokes who will love this book. That's fine - just not really my thing - maybe I'm more woke than I thought...
There are sections of this book that are really funny and hit exactly the right spot for satire. There are other bits which aren't clever enough to be comedy and just come off as bashing opposing points of view (which is ironically what the real author is supposed to be criticising Titania and her ilk for doing). In my opinion, Titania is much more suited to a Twitter feed and comedy sketches. Not enough material for a book.
I kind of feel like it'll be mostly white blokes who will love this book. That's fine - just not really my thing - maybe I'm more woke than I thought...
March 31, 2019
Brilliant and Enlightening
In this engaging book, the author takes up the important work of telling us what to think based upon things that she once read on Buzzfeed.
In this engaging book, the author takes up the important work of telling us what to think based upon things that she once read on Buzzfeed.
April 15, 2022
Una hilarante sátira que sirve de guía para detectar el perfil de la secta woke. Sería una deliciosa ficción si no fuera porque es un reflejo de la realidad neoprogre, que alienta un fascismo reaccionario con vocación de ofenderse y con la imposición de su superioridad moral que tanto daña a la libertad.
April 16, 2020
I picked up this book after listening to the author on the "The Joe Rogan Experience" podcast. It was a really funny read. It is a satirist's view of elements of a woke culture that has run amok in the societies we are living in. Sometimes, the satire is so cutting and poignant that it makes you stop and think. Other times, you just can't help it but laugh out loud. We need comedy as we are living in difficult times (I am writing this in the great lockdown of 2020 from Italy). It definitely requires some appreciation for humor from the reader as it is not for the sensitives amongst us.
March 15, 2019
Fucking brilliant!
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