1 Corinthians 7:3-4

‘Let the husband render to the wife her due, and likewise also the wife to the husband. The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband. And likewise the husband also does not have authority over his own body, but the wife.'

In view of this fact husband and wife have a responsibility to each other. They must satisfy each other. The woman has a responsibility to allow her husband to enjoy her body, and vice versa. Each ‘has authority over' the other's body, that is, has the right to be sexually satisfied from it. This is often forgotten by husbands (and in these days even by wives) who sometimes only consider their own pleasure. But here the husband is told that he must consider his wife's needs as well. She has a right to be sexually satisfied from him. And vice versa.

In this Paul reveals his full appreciation of women. In Christ ‘there can be no male or female, we are all one in Christ Jesus' (Galatians 3:28). In other words they are not viewed differently in God's eyes. They are accepted on equal terms, one is not superior to the other before God, although living to fulfil their functions. Paul's view of a woman having equal sexual rights to a man should be seen as extremely enlightened. This does not however alter the fact that the woman is there as man's support and helper. It rather is a reminder of the loving and responsive relationship that there should be between the two so that the man does not take advantage of his headship but rather recognises that it places him under a greater obligation to be reasonable and to show true love.