Eh, that sounds a bit like those lab partners may have had dubious motivations.
I figure it's on those of us who strive for the highest degree of professionalism to take the lead on inclusion.
A: Dudes, go befriend a girl, include her! It's not creepy!
B: My anecdata experience suggests girls in my lab, where they were in minority, had no problem being included if they wished to, dudes were very eager to do it.
C: Motivations of those dudes sound very dubious and creepy!
Yup, yup.
To preclude the question, yes those girls did get asked for a date every now and then. If that’s wrong, I don’t want to be right.
Does it mean something else?
There are lots of other people who don't feel such an extreme level of fear and discomfort, yet who probably could do more in terms of inclusion. Those are the people I hope the author of this article reaches.
I hope the many commenters on this article who feel so uncomfortable with female colleagues do find some way to improve their situation though -- their alienation is bad for them, bad for women, bad for all of us collectively.