Actually, I was an undergraduate in 1993 (when this was first written) and I can assure you that there did exist women who did geeky stuff, were in STEM fields,

Actually, I was an undergraduate in 1993 (when this was first written) and I can assure you that there did exist women who did geeky stuff, were in STEM fields, etc. In fact, I did research for a professor then who was precisely such a woman. I don't want to overstate this, but little things like these add up to a perception that things were a way that wasn't really the case.