Rather than thinking about it as a "counterpoint," I think it's an excellent illustration of the fact that people are complicated, and are capable of simultaneously being sexist pigs in some ways and progressive and gifted educators in others.
Something that I think really complicates these kinds of discussions is our propensity to think of people in zero-sum and reductionist ways. Examples: "I don't care if you landed a spacecraft on a comet, you're still a sexist pig!", "I don't care what a sexist pig you are, you landed a spacecraft on a comet!".
The one does not somehow "cancel out" or "make up for" the other; both facts ("sexist pig", "landed spacecraft on comet"[1]) can exist and be considered simultaneously. We contain multitudes, etc.- something that the female engineer quoted clearly understood. She made no bones about the fact that she found certain aspects of Feynman's behavior toward her offensive, but was also clear that there were other aspects that she found admirable. This is how socially mature human beings think and talk about one another, IMHO.
1: Or, in the case of Feynman, "had horrifically retrograde and damaging opinions about women's roles in society" and "was ahead of many of his peers in some respects".
I think the contradiction is most _ist people think group X in less capable of some activity. So, someone that says you’re an intelligent and capable person, but cultural norms let me dump demeaning task Y on you is not really the same thing. The closest neutral example I can think of is how the new person in a group is often dumped on.
In "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!", there's an essay entitled "You Just Ask Them?" in which Feynman relates some truly hair-raising (in a bad way) stories about his interactions with and attitudes towards women. A quick Google search will bring up plenty of commentary on the essay, from a variety of perspectives (some of which, unfortunately, seem to view the essay as inspirational and validating, rather than as alarming).
If you haven't read "Surely You're Joking...", you absolutely should- most of the essays are not hair-raising in a bad way, and as a whole it's a wonderful collection. Furthermore, as abhorrent as I find "You Just Ask Them", I think that if one is interested in learning about Richard Feynman, one should learn about him as a complete (and very flawed) individual. The (very ugly) aspect of his personality reflected in "You Just Ask Him" was just as real as the aspect of his personality that (as reported in the original linked article) was able to connect well with a female student who had felt ignored or belittled by other physicists.
For me, that contradictory nature is part of why I find Feynman to be such an interesting historical figure.
Something that I think really complicates these kinds of discussions is our propensity to think of people in zero-sum and reductionist ways. Examples: "I don't care if you landed a spacecraft on a comet, you're still a sexist pig!", "I don't care what a sexist pig you are, you landed a spacecraft on a comet!".
The one does not somehow "cancel out" or "make up for" the other; both facts ("sexist pig", "landed spacecraft on comet"[1]) can exist and be considered simultaneously. We contain multitudes, etc.- something that the female engineer quoted clearly understood. She made no bones about the fact that she found certain aspects of Feynman's behavior toward her offensive, but was also clear that there were other aspects that she found admirable. This is how socially mature human beings think and talk about one another, IMHO.
1: Or, in the case of Feynman, "had horrifically retrograde and damaging opinions about women's roles in society" and "was ahead of many of his peers in some respects".