I think that's the author's perspective on it (which I don't think is wrong). The way I see this is that lots of geeks are absolute slobs and they leave dirty dishes, food, etc.. on their desks (and their neighbors desks). I regularly see - female - office managers clean up after the slobs by doing their dishes and throwing out their trash. I've never really considered the "mom" aspect of this before. I just view co-workers like that as disgusting and self centered (the bugs they attract into the office impact everyone not just them).