Man, there must be a MASSIVE generation gap. I'm 17, been with anime+manga for a good ten years myself; I'm not ashamed in the slightest to tell people I read manga. Plenty of people I know from high school aren't in the slightest a 'loser geek otaku', people who are outright party animals and they read manga and watch anime and aren't ashamed or teased/looked down beyond an 'oh, that's odd' reaction. Times are changing! Don't be ashamed at all.