My mother told me that she had me circumcised when I was two years old. I had known this for a long time, but it was only when I was a young adult and read about female genital mutilation and infibulation in Africa, that I became alarmed.

What had actually been done to me, and why, I asked? "Just a small incision or pin-prick, to draw blood," my mother said. She didn't really know why. "Was it done to you as well, Mamih (mom)?" I asked. "Yes," she said, "it was."

Well, whatever it was they did to me, it couldn't have been anything like the African practice of cutting out the clitoris (and sometimes the labia) and sewing up the vaginal aperture. I certainly have more than my fair share of sensation in my clitoris, that unique female organ that exists solely for pleasure.

Yes, solely for pleasure* No wonder there's penis envy -- no, sorry Freud, that's not women being envious of the male sexual organ but precisely the opposite: men being envious of the women's clitoris and its amazing ability to generate repeated waves of long-lasting sets of multi-orgasmic pleasure. Only the Rajneesh Movement -- mainstream in India and Nepal, but now spreading throughout the world -- seems to have figured this out. They believe that women's capacity for multiple orgasms makes them spiritually superior. Way to go*

In fact, I reckon patriarchy and all the various misogynic practices that it has produced might boil down to just one fact: clitoris envy* Control what you fear and want, but can't have. Maybe that's why female circumcision and female genital mutilation came about: as a tacit admission of women's sexual power.

In any case, it certainly seems as old as sex. While many Muslims claim it as a religious practice, female circumcision doesn't appear anywhere in the Koran and actually predates Islam. Some claim it goes back as far back as second century BC, originating in Egypt, before spreading south and west.

One explanation has it that circumcision was rooted in the Pharaonic belief in the bisexuality of the gods. The feminine soul of a man was located in the prepuce, while the masculine soul of a woman was in the clitoris.

In order for boys to become men, and girls to become women, the feminine soul had to be excised from the boy, and the masculine from the girl. With a knife.

The current practice of female circumcision and female genital mutilation still prevalent in many countries in the world, however, is blatantly sexist and seen as a way to curb and control women's sexual pleasure, to prevent pre- and extramarital activities. Because wives, of course, are the property of their husbands, right?

Feminists obviously see these practices as expressions of patriarchal oppression and violence, and it's troubling that in 2008 the practice still thrives, including in Indonesia.

Thank God there are women's NGOs like Yayasan Kesehatan Perempuan (YKP, Women's Health Foundation), which focuses on women's sexual and reproductive rights, questioning many practices that are harmful to women, including female circumcision. They conduct extensive research with the aim of changing both values and practice.

The findings of research on female circumcision indicate that -- incredibly -- 92 percent of Muslims in Indonesia support it, seeing it as all a social tradition, a religious duty and an act of faith. When questioned, they admitted that the practice varies between different mazhab (schools of belief), from wajib (obligatory) to sunnah (recommended but optional), but that doesn't stop them endorsing it for their daughters and granddaughters.

What really bothers me here is, first, that so many people are totally confused about what is religion and what is tradition, and, second, that they question neither and just keep on cutting girls, with no idea why.

Now there's an additional reason for concern, with female circumcision commonly being offered as part of a "birth delivery package", along with ear-piercing -- as if lacerating the clitoris was a cosmetic procedure. What makes this particularly scary is that nurses tend to use scissors, which make real cutting of the clitoris (incision and excision) more likely. Traditional providers prefer to use penknives for more symbolic acts of scraping, rubbing, pricking or piercing the outer part of the clitoris just to draw blood, as was the case for my mom and me.

It's of concern that this medicalization of female circumcision persists, despite the World Health Organization banning the practice in 1980 and Indonesia's Health Ministry doing the same in 2006. The circular went to medical professional organizations, but any doctor, nurse or midwife should already have known that female circumcision is a violation of their professional ethics and their oath to use their skill and knowledge solely for the protection and maintenance of their patients' mental and physical health.

But it's not all gloom and doom. Increasingly, some progressive Muslim scholars in Indonesia are speaking out against the practice. As I said, female circumcision is mentioned nowhere in the Koran, but it does clearly say that the right to sexual pleasure belongs to women as well as men, and women have a right to divorce their husband if they don't get it. Surely this can only mean that cutting off the clitoris, the source of sexual pleasure for women, far from being a religious duty, is actually contrary to Islam. Go figure.

And even if the act carried out is more symbolic than surgical and leaves the genitals intact, what exactly is it symbolizing? As Ninuk Widyantoro from the YKP says, why do it at all if it symbolizes something negative and is a put-down to women and their sexuality?

It's heartening that women activists, the government and Muslim scholars are working together to eradicate this barbaric and useless practice. But old traditions die hard, and patriarchal ones even more so.

Just ask my mom.

Julia Suryakusuma is the author of Sex, Power and Nation. She can be contacted at jsuryakusuma*gmail.com

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