GEN406 Within, or even outside of, a marital relationship, it could certainly be contended that the cornerstone of Jewish sexual ethics is the high value placed on consensual pleasure. As such, it should perhaps first be noted that, since the time of the Torah, Judaism has considered consent to be a necessary and immutable precondition of sexual relations. Deuteronomy 22:25-27, Eruvin 100b, Ketubot 51b. … Onah literally translates as “time period,” referring to the duration of time between sexual encounters, and is understood to refer to conjugal rights as a whole. … Onah, this notion that a couple should come together as often as is possible – and that, verily, the husband is the one who owes the wife a regular degree of sexual service -- is often cited as proof that Judaism has a fairly “sex-positive” take of relationships. Feminist theologian Judith Plaskow, for example, writes that “the laws of onah represent a remarkable concern with and accommodation to female sexuality as well as appreciation of sexuality generally.” Judith Plaskow, Standing Again at Sinai: Judaism from a Feminist Perspective (San Francisco: Harper San Francisco, 1990), p. 180. … Rachel Biale…understands onah as less of a challenge to the principle of consent than as a concession to the curse of Eve [this verse]. Biale writes that, according to the Rabbis’ understanding, “the woman’s punishment is that she is unable to fulfill her desire; she does not have the boldness to initiate sex or ask for it.” Rachel Biale, Women and Jewish Law: The Essential Texts, Their History, and Their Relevance for Today (New York: Schocken, 1995) p 122. She argues that the Rabbis believed that women were by nature simultaneously full of sexual passion and deeply inhibited. As such, she suggests, the concept of onah was created to enable functional marital sexual relationships. (By Barry J. Leff, "Jewish Business Ethics") OXFORD 386-7