A women's festival has dropped a controversial talk by a rape victim and the man who attacked her after a campaign by feminists to remove them.

Thordis Elva, from Iceland, was just 16 years old when she was sexually assaulted by her boyfriend, an Australian foreign exchange student, Tom Stranger, 18, in 1996.

The pair were due to speak at the Women of the World festival at London's Southbank Centre today but this has now been pushed back to a later date.

Thordis Elva (left) was just 16 years old when she was sexually assaulted by her boyfriend, an Australian foreign exchange student, Tom Stranger (right) in 1996

Southbank Centre's Artistic Director, Jude Kelly, said: 'Our WOW – Women of the World festival was created to be an open, balanced platform for discussion and debate on gender equality and the related critical issues that women and men struggle with every day.

'Rape is one of these critical issues and we need to shift the discourse around it, which too often focuses on rape survivors rather than rape perpetrators.'

She added: 'Following their Ted talk (and their book South of Forgiveness) we programmed survivor Thordis Elva to share her journey of coming to terms with the devastating impact of her rape and her decision to invite her perpetrator Tom Stranger on to the stage, to take full responsibility for his actions.

Southbank Centre's Artistic Director, Jude Kelly, released a statement after the pair were dropped from the festival

'Having considered the importance of this debate for the widest possible public, and after having further conversations with survivors, support organisations and audiences, we have decided to stage this event on the Tuesday 14 March rather than on the Saturday 11 March as originally scheduled, to enable as many people as possible to contribute outside a festival context.'

A successful petition, started by feminist Amira Elwakil, to stop the pair speaking at the festival gained more than 2,300 signatures.

The petition warned their appearance may be 'triggering for many survivors'.

After co-authoring a book on the rape together, Elva and Stranger teamed up for a talk at a TED conference - which has since been viewed more than two million times.

In a 19-minute-long talk filmed late last year, Mr Stranger and Ms Elva discussed the impact the rape had on both of their lives.

The pair had been dating for a 'month or so' when the assault took place in Ms Elva's home after the school's Christmas ball.

A successful petition, started by feminist Amira Elwakil, to stop the pair speaking at the festival gained more than 2,300 signatures

After co-authoring a book on the rape together, Elva and Stranger teamed up for a talk at the TED conference - which has since been viewed more than two million times

Ms Elva had tried rum for the first time, and she describes thinking that Mr Stranger was her hero after he took her home to put her to bed.

However, soon her gratitude turned to horror 'as he proceeded to take off my clothes and get on top of me.

'My head had cleared up, but my body was still too weak to fight back, and the pain was blinding. I thought I'd been severed in two.

'In order to stay sane, I silently counted the seconds on my alarm clock. And ever since that night, I've known that there are 7,200 seconds in two hours,' she said.

In a 19-minute-long talk filmed late last year, Mr Stranger and Ms Elva discussed the impact the rape had on both of their lives. Pictured, the Southbank Centre in London

The couple broke up a couple of days later and Mr Stranger returned home to Australia.

Ms Elva and Mr Stranger have co-authored a book, called South of Forgiveness.

To watch the TED talk in full, click here.