Illustrated Talk: Secrets of the Geisha

April 18, 2001

Illustrated Talk: Secrets of the Geisha
Lesley Downer (Journalist)
403 Kent Hall, Columbia University (116th St. & Amsterdam Ave.)
6:00 PM
In the summer of 1999 Ms. Downer spent several months living among the geisha, researching her book, Women of the Pleasure Quarters: The Secret History of the Geisha (April 2001). She befriended many geisha, shared their lives and discovered why modern young Japanese women still choose to become geisha. The author met women who were geisha in the 1920s, the geisha heyday, and heard tales of the pre-war years, when women were sold into geishadom and endured compulsory defloration at the age of 13. This is the first time that anyone has lived among the geisha since the anthropologist Liza Dalby 25 years ago. It may also be the last: the geisha are rapidly declining in numbers and the women who can remember their glory days are in their 90s. Ms. Downer will discuss how she gained access to this closed and secretive world and what she found there: the geisha she met, their way of life, their romantic history and their extraordinary, sometimes shocking, customs. The talk will be illustrated with slides and geisha paraphernalia (e.g. geisha shoes, lipstick, etc.)
Lesley Downer is a British journalist and a regular contributor to the Arts and Leisure section of the Wall Street Journal. She also writes feature articles for the London Financial Times, the Daily Telegraph, the Independent and has written for the New York Times Magazine and Fortune. Her specialty areas include travel, food, fashion, arts and interviews/profiles. Downer divides her time between London, New York, and Japan.