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I think we're allowed to say, that Feynman's approach to women was pretty horrid by modern standards. It's not an argument about hypocrisy — it's just how he was. He doesn't deny it; he brags about it. There's something trickier there.
It doesn't invalidate Feynman's contributions to science — but it perhaps ought to temper the "Feynman was great in every way" approach. I'm fine with saying, "Feynman was an impressive thinker, but could be a very flawed (dumb?) human being on other fronts."
And the sexism in "Surely You're Joking" certainly means I wouldn't buy it for a young, impressionable future scientist today (male or female). It dates and mars it in the worse way. (In a way a lot of classic sci-fi is similarly dated and marred.)
Perhaps, from a different point of view, it is important to read “Surely You’re Joking” even as a young student if someone helps you to put it in perspective, if only to see how things have marginally improved.
The danger with "Surely You're Joking" is that there is a certain brand of smart-alecky male who identifies very strongly with Feynman's self presentation — the, "I'm just trying to have a good time, and I happen to be smart in a world full of dummies" thing.
I think that's already a problematic aspect to Feynman (I am inherently suspicious of such narratives) and Feynman fan-boys, but when you add the casual and overt misogyny as part of that "package," it gets pretty toxic pretty quickly.
And whenever I have a book that I think might or might not be useful for a younger person, I always want to ask, would I feel comfortable giving this to a female student? If the answer is no, then I don't want to give it to ANY student.
To be perfectly honest I would not feel uncomfortable giving a female student Feynman’s book assuming she is sufficiently mature to understand the context and, not in a small part, the self-glorification. Now, male students… not so sure.
It is always rather dangerous to portray anyone as “great in every way”. I can think of other historical non-scientific figures who have been portrayed in this way and on closer inspection were somewhat less “clean”. An easy one is the portrayal of Churchill ignoring any pre-WWII
What is, in my opinion, dangerous is invalidating all of Feynman’s contributions on the basis of his misogyny. While I agree on perhaps not offering “Surely You’re Joking” to a young student it does not invalidate the “Lectures on Physics”.
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