Claire Reid
A teacher has revealed how she juggles her work life with her somewhat unusual hobby - being a furry.
Preschool teacher Flint, 22, spends her working day educating youngsters, but when she’s not in the classroom you’ll often find her donning her hand-made fursuit and and becoming her furry alter ego: Dutch Angel Dragon.
Flint, from Salt Lake City in Utah, has also turned her hobby into a side-hustle and creates custom designed fursuits for others, which cost around £1,000 ($1,236) each.
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Although Flint has been open about her small business, she’s been less forward when it comes to sharing her own ‘fursona’.
She said: "I haven't ever explicitly told someone that yes, I am a furry; I haven't labelled myself as that.
"I have told people that on the side, I do costume and commissions for people, and they think that's fascinating and cool - but I don't talk about it very much. Just because there is unfortunately still a negative connotation to the hobby.
"I do get hate every day. It kind of comes with being on the internet in general. I get told almost every day to 'off' myself, which is really hard sometimes."
But despite the negativity, Flint does like to share her passions online and doesn’t shy away from showing off her designs.
"I picked up the hobby in the winter of 2020, but ever since I was 12, I've done cosplay and made costumes,” she added.
"I've always made clothes for myself; my mum 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.
"For a while, I thought furries were really weird, I'm not going to lie, but I ended up being fascinated by how they were built.
"I kind of took a deep dive into why people do it and the different kinds of costumes that people make, and I thought to myself, 'That would be fun to try - it would be a challenge.'
"I began to reflect on myself and realised that I was probably a furry because I wanted one of the costumes.
"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.
"If you have a sour taste in your mouth because you think we're a little weird, I would do some research on what we actually do.
"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.
"So, 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. Please just give us a chance."