Odd, because they'll admit it to pollsters. Maybe we've been all beaten over the head so much with 'feminists are a hated, fringey minority' many people think they'll pay a price for identifying themselves as a feminist, so they keep it in the closet.
In a 2003 Harris poll of US adults conducted for Ms. Magazine, 83 percent of women said they felt favorably towards the movement for women’s rights (as did 95 percent of Latina women and 93 percent of African American women). Among young women 18 to 24, 92 percent rated the women’s movement favorably. When asked if they felt that feminists and the women’s movement had been helpful to them, 76% of women said yes. Do they use the word feminist? 56 percent of women in the poll identified themselves as feminist (up from 51% in 1995). When the definition of feminist was given as "someone who supports political, economic, and social equality for women" the number of women who call themselves feminists shot up to 77 percent. (Men identified themselves as feminist 34 percent before they heard the definition, 70 percent afterwards).
Anyway, I'm glad you found an out feminist to work with!
Jenny Brown