It probably is just that lots of people marry at about 18 - 20, and a percentage of the marriages don't last once the bills pile up and the kids start coming along. (Census figures show a trend toward later first marriages, so maybe that has changed some.)

The eligible males at that age are out partying, and with kids at home many of the females in that group can't really get out and swing with the ones who've remained - or become - single, so they clump up in organized "singles sympathy" groups or other places where they might "meet a man." Especially those who settled for a loser the first time around don't seem too fussy about the next try - and they're often determined to latch on and cling desparately to anyone in sight.

It's not so much that there are that many of them, but they travel in coveys and are into "pack hunting" at the kill.

In my (too) brief single period, it seemed there was a secondary peak in women at around 32 - 35+, which may be when the "7-year itch" hit marrieds (of both sexes) and they start getting bored with what they've had, and/or when those who've always been single begin to hear the bio-clock ticking(?).

Possibly both these groups, if one must generalize, would be a bit youngish for someone who claims 35 years + of being out of the market. Unfortunately a large percentage of more suitably mature women seem to withdraw, in one way or another, and render themselves "unfindable." (Probably having tea together and lamenting the absence of good men.)

John