Why is OH group activating towards electrophilic aromatic substitution?
The oxygen in the $\ce{-OH}$ group in phenol has unpaired electrons that are capable of being donated to the ring. Although oxygen is electronegative and does exhibit some I- effects, the electron sharing that oxygen is capable of (shown by when drawing the resonance structures) has a stronger effect and results in $\ce{-OH}$ being a good ring activator. I've included the resonance structures below.