Ah yes, that stereotype is being fed. Oh well but if they're afraid of being associated with that, then it's their insecurities showing. Not every anime fan feeds those stereotypes.
Well, it's mostly due to the large presence of NEETs. Stereotypical high school dropout, fat, unclean, unsociable, spends all day playing erogames, has a room full of figurines, posters, etc.
Those people aren't liked very much, and they're usually associated with anime.
Wow really? That's kinda sad... How does one even do that and live with it? I can't imagine life without anime; and I'm not even Japanese. (Though I guess Chinese animations are like a branch of anime.)