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The rise of feminism has negatively impacted relationships

*Has my opponent scientifically proven that feminism is negatively impacting relationships? As it is written now, the point of this debate is for him to prove that feminism is negatively impacting relationships, not what women are and aren't good at. He spent little time doling out statistics on modern relationship trends. He even admits "science is limited in it's ability to prove that people are less happy in relationships" then he puts forth statistics that don't have anything to do with relationships specifically, in hopes that the reader can find a correlation. I agree with my opponent that science is limited in it's ability to prove that relationships are being adversely affected. I took to the internet (at my opponents suggesting) to find evidence of the decline of the modern relationship, but to no avail. There really isn't any evidence suggesting that relationships are being adversely affected AT ALL, let alone by feminism. With a lack of proper evidence, all my opponent could do from here on out was draw correlations between his relationship and society, as if what happens in his relationship must be happening to us all. His point of view from his relationship cannot be considered a reliable representation of ALL relationships. I think he could've done a better job with trying to prove "scientifically", that relationships are being adversely affected, and that feminism is the specific cause. Without this concrete evidence, my opponents entire argument unravels fairly quick. Now, the entire debate is based solely from the point of view of my opponent. *Has my opponent persuaded you of his premise in a social sense? It seems my opponent has projected his image of his relationship onto society. He thinks his personal experience is a true representation of ALL society, then he tries to portray his problems as societies problems. In all truth, it was a revealing look inside the dark depths of a social echoe chamber. I know how he wanted so badly to argue that women are inferior when it comes to finances or personal responsibility etc etc, but I feel that whatever "role" Tom has in mind for men and women doesn't really matter in this debate. If he wanted to have a debate on the superiority or inferiority of men and women, his proposal should have been worded differently, like for instance, UNK NO LIKE WOMEN IN WORKPLACE, or something of that nature. It seems that Thomas thinks my relationship is "rather rare if not unique in human history", so I guess he thinks my relationship is NOT a good representation of society at large, to him I'm in an "alternative social order". He feels that him and his friends (who unsurprisingly have similar problems) and whatever comedy shows he watches are a good representation of society at large, because he did a study on the issue (I'm sure it's scintillating) and that's all he felt he needed as a good representation of society!?! My opponent offers no hard evidence on social trends suggesting that feminism has a negative impact on relationships, but here is a link to one study he mentioned and it seems that egalitarianism does not adversely affect relationships http://journals.sagepub.com.... *Has my opponent properly addressed the fact that economic circumstances make it difficult for women to be housewives? My opponents assertion that feminist discouragement of women being housewives is totally irrelevant!! Womens rejection of the role of housewife isn't tied to feminism, it's tied to economic circumstance. I would wager that the VAST majority of women who have jobs do not identify themselves as feminists. Regardless of their feelings toward being housewives, more women are being thrust into a role of economic provider. My opponent has done nothing to address this point, which I have brought up more than once! *Do social additudes directly influence our relationships? I think my opponent got a little tongue tied when it came to this point. It seems he thinks that social attitudes have a more profound impact on our personal relationships than we as individuals do. Once again he's hijacked something and twisted it to fit his world view. Higher self awareness does not deal with societies influence, it deals with emotions. My opponent claims we are preprogrammed by society, and the concept of higher self awareness proves it. HOGWASH!!!! Higher self awareness says that our brains are capable of remembering the emotions we feel in any given situation we've ever had. Our brains then store that information and uses it as an emotional blueprint for our future reference. When we encounter a situation that is similar to a situation we've encountered in the past, our brains unconsciously remind us of the feelings we had in the past situation. This emotional information can and does profoundly influence our decision making. Some may interpret that as being preprogrammed by our emotions, but self awareness is the realization of this process and being able to overcome it. I think my opponent has a common misconception on the difference between emotions and actions. Emotions do influence us deeply, and we don't truly have control over them, but your not going to melt if you act "contrary" to your emotions. They're just feelings (Nietzsche spoke about this alot). Lets say you have a fear of flying, but you've decided to get on a plane and face your fear, that would be an example of you acting contrary to your emotions. Your choice of action is the dominant factor here, not emotions. We are not preprogrammed by our emotions. I feel that the only way social attitudes can influence our relationships is if we choose to let them. Our relationships aren't owned by the public, and our love is not for the greater good of society, it's for our own personal interest. Our perception of our own relationship is far more influential than social attitudes. My wife and I are very happy together, but we have had quarrels in the past and will again in the future, but I don't simply blame our disagreements on feminism. Our personal feelings for each other are far more influential than social attitudes or feminism. I thank my opponent for such a spirited debate, and I wish him good luck. I thank YOU the reader for taking interest in this debate, and I encourage you to vote on it. Peace!