Virtual reality drama aims to educate young people about sexual consent

An immersive virtual reality drama aimed at educating young people about the importance of sexual consent has been created by a Belfast academic.

The Afters are two interrelated VR narrative stories told from the perspectives of a 17-year-old girl and boy, designed primarily for schools, college and university students.

The narrative is designed to help inform young people on the subtleties of verbal and non-verbal communication regarding sexual consent.

Its creator, Lucy Baxter – lecturer in Film Practice from the School of Arts, English and Languages at Queen’s University Belfast, said it also encourages conversations around empathy and awareness with peers to help young people safely navigate intimate situations in the future.

Ms Baxter – who wrote, directed and produced the dramas – said she was motivated to create the content following reports which highlighted gaps in the delivery of sex education in Northern Ireland.

She said: “We’re really proud of these films, having worked with young people to ensure their authenticity and relatability.

“VR allows the user to deeply empathise with the internal experience of characters and can explore grey areas to tease out important discussions around consent.”

The academic said she believed it was important that the programme would be able to include both young women and young men.

She said: “The motivation for this was to include boys and young men in it.

“Something that I had noticed, as the mother of an 11-year-old boy myself, just looking at how things are delivered, is that it’s not always inclusive of boys and men.

“I was really keen to make something that looked at the male perspective as well as the female one.”

The dramas look at a single narrative, but from the perspectives of a 17-year-old boy and girl.

Ms Baxter said: “The story of the films is quite simple, it’s a house party.

“So you start getting ready for the house party, interacting with friends, having a drink, and then go to the house party with about five other friends, and it’s how this house party goes through the night.

“This couple don’t interact with each other very much until they’re quite drunk, then they get into a sexual escalation, and then there’s a bit of confusion in the final scene, about whether consent was there or not.

“So it’s really about sort of lack of communication and how peer influence and alcohol can affect these kinds of decisions.”

Gavin Peden, creative director of the project, said: “We are delighted that with The Afters we were able to use the possibilities of filmic storytelling, alongside the personal immersive experience of VR to create a piece the provokes conversation around such a timely and pressing topic.”

The project is running a research trial with Politics in Action, Phoenix Education Centre, students, schools across Northern Ireland and frontline education and community workers.

Dr Therese Cullen, project manager at Politics in Action, commented: “VR is a really impactful tool for learning about consent.

“When young people step into these immersive stories, they don’t just hear about consent — they feel it.

“It’s an incredible tool for opening up honest conversations, helping young people see the power of communication, respect, and body language.

“These conversations matter — and young people should be at the heart of them.”