During my research, i happened upon a fabulous site called "The Dark Bible". It's strange and appealling. Possibly the way i like to imagine myself, but i digress.
Onanist-
a. masturbator: a person who practices masturbation wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
b. In the Biblical Book of Genesis, Onan was the second son of Judah. Certain interpretations of the narrative concerning him have led to the use of ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onanist
c. a man who masturbates; a man who uses coitus interruptus as a means of birth control en.wiktionary.org/wiki/onanist
d. onanism - masturbation: manual stimulation of the genital organs (of yourself or another) for sexual pleasure
e. onanism - coitus interruptus: a method of birth control in which coitus is initiated but the penis is deliberately withdrawn before ejaculation
wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
f. onanism - ejaculating outside the vagina during intercourse; (the performing of) Coitus interruptus; masturbation
en.wiktionary.org/wiki/onanism
So i am thinking that this one is not something you use towards another as an insult - like "wanker". It is in fact a somewhat graceful and almost spiritual word. A nice way to say you like to touch yourself without crossing any of those social boundaries.
