Oxford University student activist who campaigned against rape culture quits after 'non-consensual gay sex'

A student activist from Oxford University is resigning from her political and campaigning posts after admitting having non-consensual gay sex at a conference.

Annie Teriba, a second-year history and politics student at Wadham College and editor of the NoHeterOx gay magazine made the admission in a Facebook posting which has since been deleted.

Teriba wrote in a statement reposted by Oxford University Student Union Women's Campaign: "This statement explains why I will be stepping down from political campaigning from now.

"At this year's NUS black students' conference, I had sex with someone. The other party later informed me that the sex was not consensual. I failed to properly establish consent before every act. I apologise sincerely and profoundly for my actions.

"I should have taken sufficient steps to ensure that everything I did was consensual. I should have been more attentive to the person's body language. In failing to clarify that the person consented to our entire encounter, I have caused serious irreparable harm.

In a separate incident, in my first year of university, I was alerted to my inappropriate behaviour whilst drunk in a club, where I had touched somebody in a sexual manner without their consent. Therefore this is not an isolated incident. I apologise sincerely and profoundly for my actions."

Teriba has resigned as editor of NoHeterOx, as the People of Colour and Racial Equality Officer at Wadham Student Union, Oxford, and from positions on the NUS' Balck Student Committee, and the National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts National Committee.

In an article published last year, she called for the Oxford Students Union to introduce sexual consent workshops.

"Consent workshops aren't, "patronising" they force people to consider consent in a world that teaches women not to get raped and no one not to rape," she wrote in Bad Housekeeping online magazine.

"Sex isn't just intercourse, it cannot exist without consent. We fear the discussion about affirmative consent because we're afraid we will identify with rapists who see clothing as consent or who don't even see themselves as rapists," she wrote.

The Woman's Campaign, a political group within the Oxford University Student Union, said in a statement to the Oxford student newspaper Cherwell that the admission was "rife with apologism."

"Sexual assault is one of the most underreported crimes, especially at universities. Holding those responsible for sexual violence accountable means acknowledging the terrifying fact that violence against women is deeply ingrained in and normalised in our culture: education about the issues, campaigning for the rights of those affected, and continued vigilance about the behaviour we do not condone in our organisation is the only way forward."