Viewpoint: Richard Feynman, harassment, and the culture of science

Did you not read the rest of the article? That "bitches" quote was just the jumping off point that sent her down a rather unpleasant rabbit-hole:

Either I had misjudged Feynman, or others weren’t judging him enough. I borrowed a copy of Surely You’re Joking from the Caltech library (there are 11 available) to investigate. In my second reading, I learned that Feynman enjoyed doing research at topless bars near Caltech, where he also picked up a habit of drawing nude portraits of women. Many of his later nude models were his students. I also learned that when he was a professor at Cornell, he regularly pretended to be a student to convince undergraduates to sleep with him.

As well as this:

https://caltechletters.org/media/posts/2019-10-08-feynman-harassment-science/feynman_letter_clean.png

And as for what it all has to do with sexual harassment and the generally toxic environment for women in STEM:

Why should we care about the bad behavior of a brilliant physicist who died more than thirty years ago? Why can’t we separate Feynman’s scientific achievements from his other actions, and write off his sexism as a product of its time? Because the power structures that enabled Feynman’s sexism then are the same ones that now allow us to forget his conduct, remembering him only as a great scientist. They let famed astronomer Geoff Marcy engage in decades of sexual predation in his field and permitted Caltech to preserve Christian Ott’s professorship after he harassed his female students. And now, they allow Caltech professors to continue defending Ott to my peers and me, claiming that the female students who endured his inappropriate and discriminatory behavior “ruined his career.”

But we must consider Feynman in all his manifestations—a brilliant scientist, but also a narcissist whose sexist behavior did undeniable harm. And while his contributions to physics are immense, it is worth considering that science is not, nor has it ever been, a level playing field. It is unlikely that Feynman would have been able to make the scientific strides he did if he had been born a hundred years earlier, when antisemitism would have barred him from elite academic spaces entirely. In the same vein, it is possible that someone else would have made Feynman’s discoveries decades before him if the world were truly fair. Perhaps it would have been a woman.

Why do we bemoan the exit of sexual harassers, and those who otherwise harm their colleagues, from the scientific community? Instead, we should mourn the loss of all the promising scientists that they forced out, whose contributions will never be known. It is time that Caltech reconsider its uncritical celebration of a tainted idol while failing to combat harassment and discrimination. Otherwise, we remain an institution that actively discourages women and other marginalized individuals from entering and remaining in STEM fields. We must condemn harassment and discrimination, wherever they occur—our lab meetings, our conferences, our scientific spaces. Shifting this toxic culture will require concerted effort from both institutions and the individuals who compose them. It is the only way that we will move science towards becoming a stronger, more prolific, and more equitable community.

The author excludes the possibly that Feynman's statements were accurate, and that in fact, women Albuquerque bars, were, factually, bitches only looking for free drinks.

I can't tell if this is serious or not, but this is about the dumbest defense I could think of making. If you read the chapter in question it's clear that he adopts this attitude only after being rejected (I don't have my copy of the book on hand to quote from). This is coupled with the other problematic behavior towards women that we see later in the article: having his students pose for nude portraits, and pretending to be a student to sleep with students as well. He was also probably abusive towards his ex-wife which led to their divorce, as judged by his FBI file (page 64 if it doesn't automatically load to that). In all his attitude towards women was not a good one, and I don't think there's a reason to give him the benefit of the doubt here and assume that the women "were, factually, bitches only looking for free drinks", whatever that means.

Looks like a typical need to blame some singular thing in what is generally a problem of human nature that is best resolved by punishing offenders appropriately.

The author is not blaming a singular thing.

Why should we care about the bad behavior of a brilliant physicist who died more than thirty years ago? Why can’t we separate Feynman’s scientific achievements from his other actions, and write off his sexism as a product of its time? Because the power structures that enabled Feynman’s sexism then are the same ones that now allow us to forget his conduct, remembering him only as a great scientist. They let famed astronomer Geoff Marcy engage in decades of sexual predation in his field and permitted Caltech to preserve Christian Ott’s professorship after he harassed his female students. And now, they allow Caltech professors to continue defending Ott to my peers and me, claiming that the female students who endured his inappropriate and discriminatory behavior “ruined his career.”

Wow I came away with a a vastly different reading, I initially bristled at the article, because I generally do not like to judge people of a different time and culture by today's standards when they are unable to repudiate their views of the time and the way they may have evolved as a person.

None of this is to paint Feynman as a villain; on some level I can understand his enduring popularity. A great teacher and scientific communicator, he is also proof that nerdy men can be funny, popular, and (reputedly) successful with women, and is perhaps idolized for these attributes as much as for his accomplishments in physics. In spite of his sexism, he encouraged his younger sister’s interest in science when their parents did not. Joan Feynman is now a solar astrophysicist who spent the bulk of her career at NASA. He also dealt with significant discrimination while climbing the scientific ivory tower in the 30’s and 40’s, which was then characterized by strong antisemitism.

The Author does a good job of not throwing the baby out with the bathwater, acknowledging that Feynman faults and accomplishments. And they give a level headed roadmap to follow going forward

We must condemn harassment and discrimination, wherever they occur—our lab meetings, our conferences, our scientific spaces. Shifting this toxic culture will require concerted effort from both institutions and the individuals who compose them. It is the only way that we will move science towards becoming a stronger, more prolific, and more equitable community.

If you want to generalize, the lesson is that history is mostly terrible, and even people who did very good things often did rather bad things as well.

Once that sinks in, reading that some of Feynman's behavior was pretty terrible shouldn't upset you. It's another part of the story, not particularly surprising (since in a way, it was lying there in plain sight) and probably valid history. It shouldn't be dismissed as uninteresting because it upsets you.

Don't have heroes, or at least understand that they're not really heroes.