Is she fur real?
A Salt Lake City school teacher is speaking out about her true passion — being a furry.
When she’s not helping shape the next generation in the classroom, Flint, 22, dresses up in a homemade costume and identifies as a Dutch angel dragon.
In an interview with Caters on Friday, Flint revealed that she’s been hiding her “fursona” due to the negativity that surrounds the subculture.
Furries famously enjoy dressing up as cartoonish animals — sometimes as a sexual fetish, but more often as a fun escape. It’s estimated that at least 250,000 people in the US identify as “furries.”
“I don’t talk about it very much,” Flint admitted. “Just because there is unfortunately still a negative connotation to the hobby.”
The crafty preschool teacher even makes costumes for fellow furries and sells them online for $1,200 a pop.
“I picked up the hobby in the winter of 2020, but ever since I was 12, I’ve done cosplay and made costumes,” Flint explained.
“I’ve always made clothes for myself; my mom taught me how to sew very early on, but I wanted to challenge myself, so online, I was looking around and I saw other people making these things.
The teacher says she initially thought furries were “really weird,” and avoided labelling herself as such, even though she loved dressing up as an animal.
Now, the Utah native says she’s finally embracing the label and has found the courage to go public.
“I began to reflect on myself and realized that I was probably a furry because I wanted one of the costumes,” Flint explained. “So, I just dove in and made myself a character because I just wanted to give it a try, and now that I’m here, I’m just kind of figuring it out and having a lot of fun doing it.”
“From the very beginning of the fandom, there has been misinformation. TV and media have not understood what our hobby is and then assumed and projected other things onto us,” the teacher declared.
Last year, the furry subculture hit headlines after a Michigan school district was forced to deny reports they put a litter box in one of its bathrooms for kids who identify as furries.
Earlier this year, a Japanese man became the world’s most famous furry after revealing he dresses up as a dog named Toco.
While many assume that all members of the furry subculture engage in strange sexual practices or harbor bizarre kinks, most furries dress up as animals as an innocent escape that fosters creativity and community.
“It is a shame that the furry community still endures (some) negative media portrayals and public misperception as deviants because the truth of this remarkable and resilient community is far more interesting,” Dr. Sharon E. Roberts, associate professor at the University of Waterloo and a co-founder of the International Anthropomorphic Research Project, told The Post in an interview last year.
Flint hopes revealing her out-of-hours hobby will further brek down the stigma against furries.
“Please do your research. If you don’t, then you’re ignorant because you don’t want to know. This community is full of wonderful people who are smart and kind,” she declared. “Please just give us a chance.”