The afters
Creative practice in live action VR for relationship and sex education
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 17830987 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Lucy Baxter (Queen's University Belfast, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Pages | 1-19 |
| Publication date | 2026-02-03 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Media Practice and Education (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2574-1136 • E-ISSN: 2574-1144 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/25741136.2026.2622200 |
| OpenAlex | W7127605568 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 18 |
This article discusses practice work, The Afters: a live-action narrative drama and Virtual Reality experience. The Afters is a series of two interrelated VR narrative dramas told from the perspectives of a 17-year-old girl and boy. Designed primarily for schools, colleges, and university students for relationships and sex education, this VR narrative aims to help inform young people on the subtleties of verbal and non-verbal communication regarding sexual consent, encouraging conversations around empathy and awareness with peers to help them safely navigate intimate situations in the future. The article aims to discuss the development, creative practice and planned dissemination of this pilot VR experience, evaluating it in the context of traditional study methods within Relationship and Sex Education and existing education interventions in VR. The Afters builds on the reflective auto ethnographic practice methodology of previous Project Mental Abuse Matters, evolving from 1st-person embodiment to various points of view
Drama · Empathy · Human sexuality · Narrative · Psychological intervention · Virtual reality · Child Development and Digital Technology · Gender, Feminism, and Media · Virtual Reality Applications and Impacts
What is best practice in sex and relationship education? A synthesis of evidence, including stakeholders’ views
The Sense of Embodiment in Virtual Reality
The Mental Abuse Matters Virtual Reality Project
Emotional literacy as curriculum
Constructing narratives of masculinity
Sex and safety on set
It’s a global #MeToo
Are Irish voters moving to the left
BTA's Cool Britannia
Beyond the Clickbait
Autoethnography as a Genre of Qualitative Research
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |