In last week's column I mentioned that the media now likes to divide people and things into winners and losers (kachigumi, makegumi). This device is mainly used for economic-related matters, but it has trickled down into other social spheres.
In the realm of romance, the winner-loser dichotomy is mostly a feminine concern. The "kachigumi" in this case are housewives who are married to men with good jobs and have had children. The "makegumi" are women who are approaching 40 with insecure jobs and no marriage prospects in sight.
This theory is advanced in a best-selling book by essayist Junko Sakai called "Makeinu no Toboe (The Howl of the Losing Dog)." In last week's issue of Aera, Sakai discussed her idea with feminist standard-bearer Chikako Ogura, who implies that Sakai, who is 37 and unmarried and identifies with the losers, contradicts her own theory by having written a successful book about it. Sakai obviously is independent and doing work that's fulfilling. Besides, women who marry successful men and have children aren't all happy, and unmarried women who work aren't all unhappy.