I’m a female member. I’ve never negotiated my allowance before—would it be better to do so from the man’s perspective?

Thank you for your question. Representative Kida will answer. You’ve never negotiated the allowance before????!! Even when we say “negotiation,” I think it’s usually more like a simple confirmation: Man: “I was thinking of giving you this much as a thank-you. Is that okay?” Woman: “Yes, that’s fine.” At least, I imagine so. I don’t think it usually goes like this: Man: “3.” Woman: “10.” Man: “5.” Woman: “7.” Man: “5 plus a gift.” Woman: “5 plus Tiffany.” Man: “Deal.” Probably not. Men may be the kind of people who choose from a menu without looking at the prices or buy clothes without checking the tags, but— In reality, they don’t want to argue about money when saying goodbye. If a man hands over several tens of thousands of yen and the woman says, “Huh? You’re still short 15 million yen,” he can’t just get away with, “Oh, sorry—I don’t have that much on me right now.” So I think many people confirm the amount beforehand. That said, I often hear about people who don’t discuss the amount at all. That feels the least like prostitution and the most like an adult relationship (intimate). Nice one, questioner. The “going rate” discussions you see in question boxes and columns are about people from the mainstream crowd, so please just watch them fondly.