Home > Author > Titania McGrath
21 " I voted for Jeremy Corbyn reluctantly, because as an intersectionalist I would have preferred a black lesbian in the role. But there’s always the possibility that Corbyn might transition at a later date, or that Diane Abbott might assume the Labour Party leadership and develop a taste for flange. "
― Titania McGrath , Woke: A Guide to Social Justice
22 " Men are trained from birth to disregard the desires of women. Come to think of it, the process is initiated long before that. All males begin their lives within the bodies of their mothers. They are literally inside a woman without her verbal consent. I cannot put this explicitly enough. The very first thing a male does in his life is to rape his own mother. "
23 " More recently, Labour MP Dawn Butler took umbrage at a new brand of ‘jerk rice’ that had been marketed by television chef Jamie Oliver. ‘Your jerk rice is not ok,’ Butler tweeted. ‘This appropriation from Jamaica needs to stop.’ For me, angry tweets addressed to celebrity chefs are what being a Member of Parliament is all about. "
24 " Cultural appropriation is the principal signifier of white privilege. ‘All white people,’ states Guardian columnist Lola Okolosie, are implicated ‘in white supremacy’. In other words, literally every white person you have ever met is a racist. It stands to reason. "
25 " By the time this book is published, I am confident that there will have been a second referendum. After all, only 1,269,501 more people voted to Leave than to Remain. No serious mathematician would consider that any kind of ‘majority’. "
26 " Ihave words of wisdom for all young girls. No matter what you do in life, or how much you achieve, you will always be victims of the patriarchy. Understanding this is the key to your empowerment. "
27 " We need to challenge the lazy assumption that people aren't racist just because they don't say or do racist things. "
28 " I think that there’s a lot of people more concerned about being precisely, factually and semantically correct than about being morally right. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez "
29 " Over the past few years I have become a formidable presence on the live slam-poetry scene. For those of you who are unfamiliar with slam, it’s like regular poetry but with extra pauses. And there’s usually a lactose-free buffet at the end. "
30 " If Luke Skywalker had been cast as an aborigine back in 1977, racism would have been eliminated by now. "
31 " On the other hand, as screenwriter Daisy Goodwin has pointed out, by depicting women in powerful roles producers are guilty of ‘airbrushing reality’. I would therefore like to see more shows in which women are depicted as powerful in order to send a positive message, but simultaneously depicted as weak in order to reflect the ways in which women are oppressed in society. "
32 " Twitter in particular is a cesspit of the far right. It’s got to the point where if someone doesn’t have ‘antifascist’ in their bio, it’s safest to assume that they’re a fascist. "
33 " In a sense, one’s internet presence is one’s true personality. Old-fashioned ‘face-to-face’ conversation is all very well, but the best way to debate serious political issues is surely through an online forum in which you won’t have to deal with the potential intimidation that comes with actual human contact, and thoughts need not be developed beyond a 280-character limit. In addition, it’s important to be able to block people who disagree with you to avoid being triggered by challenging opinions. "
34 " Thankfully, Silicon Valley tech giants have a commendable record of banning users who have problematic opinions, or engage in ‘satire’. And it’s not as though there has been a lack of transparency. YouTube, Twitter and Facebook have made it explicitly clear which opinions you are allowed to have. If you don’t want to be censored, don’t say the wrong things. It really is that simple. "
35 " The ubiquity of racism is an idea echoed by one of my favourite writers, Afua Hirsch, in her book Brit(ish): On Race, Identity and Belonging. Above all, I admire Hirsch’s tenacity, because even though she comes from an extremely wealthy family, was privately educated, enjoyed an idyllic childhood complete with ‘berry-stained rambles on Wimbledon Common’ and ‘walking holidays in the Alps’, she is still able to see past all that to realise that she is every bit as subjugated as those individuals who were bought and sold during the era of slavery. She is also brave enough to call out the obvious racism of anyone who gave her book a bad review. "
36 " Let us not forget that white supremacy comes in many forms, and often it can insinuate itself into our culture through microwavable ready-meals. "
37 " Many have argued that Obama’s legacy is tainted by the fact that on his watch the Democratic Party haemorrhaged support to the Republicans, that he enabled policies of illegal domestic surveillance, doubled the national debt, allowed millions of citizens to fall below the poverty line and was guilty of reckless interventionism in foreign disputes. What these critics forget is that Obama was mixed race, and all of these flaws can be attributed to his white side. If he had been fully black, his legacy would have been irreproachable. "
38 " You can still be homeless and have white privilege. Munroe Bergdorf "
39 " One of the unwritten rules of a democracy is that referendums can be overturned if a sufficient number of rich celebrities demand it. "
40 " As a millennial icon on the forefront of online activism, I am uniquely placed 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. "