Onan

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Onan (אוֹנָן "Strong", Standard Hebrew Onan, Tiberian Hebrew ʾÔnān) is a person described in the book of Genesis in the Bible. His name is the origin for the sexual term "onanism", meaning masturbation, although many now consider this to be based on a misinterpretation.

Narrative

Onan was the second son of Judah. After his older brother Er died, Onan was required by the tradition of levirate marriage to marry Er's widow Tamar. According to Genesis 38:7-9, when he had sexual intercourse with Tamar he "spilt his seed upon the ground" because the resulting child would be considered his late brother's, not his. In response to this transgression, God killed Onan.

Interpretations

One Jewish interpretation is that Onan was deserving of the death penalty solely because he sinned by spilling his seed (see Babylonian Talmud tractate Niddah 13a). The narrative is cited as a reason for the ban on both masturbation and coitus interruptus.

Medieval Catholic authors also understood the activities of God in this story as a condemnation of masturbation and contraception. This interpretation was held by important figures in the early Church, such as St. Jerome who makes explicit reference to Onan's sexual act:

But I wonder why he [the heretic Jovinianus] set Judah and Tamar before us for an example, unless perchance even harlots give him pleasure; or Onan, who was slain because he grudged his brother seed. Does he imagine that we approve of any sexual intercourse except for the procreation of children? (Against Jovinian 1:19, A.D. 393)

Clement of Alexandria, though he does not make explicit reference to Onanism, certainly reflects the prevalent early Christian view of the abhorrence of "spilling seed":

Because of its divine institution for the propagation of man, the seed is not to be vainly ejaculated, nor is it to be damaged, nor is it to be wasted. (The Instructor of Children 2:10:91:2 A.D. 191)

To have coitus other than to procreate children is to do injury to nature. (The Instructor of Children 2:10:95:3)

However, some modern Biblical scholars assert that Onan's primary sin was to violate the rules of levirate marriage. Possibly, the main purpose of these verses was to denote the punishment for violating the rules of levirate marriage, which was a divine law, rather than for practicing either coitus interruptus or masturbation. It is also now generally agreed that the passage refers to coitus interruptus rather than masturbation.

Some theologians observe that the specified biblical penalty for not giving your brother’s widow children was public humiliation, not death (Deuteronomy 25:7–10). They conclude that Onan's sin was therefore more than merely not fulfilling the duty of a brother-in-law.

Popular culture

Dorothy Parker quipped that her parakeet was named Onan because he spilled his seed.

David Foster Wallace in Infinite Jest depicts a future North American society governed by the Organization of North American Nations or O.N.A.N. Those opposed to the foreign policy of said government are known as anti-O.N.A.N.ists.

Momus, on his album Stars Forever, had a song titled "Onan the Barbarian".

The Catholic Church's teachings concerning birth control were the inspiration for the song, "Every Sperm is Sacred" in the movie, Monty Python's The Meaning of Life.

Mel Brooks describes a character named Onan in his recording (with Carl Reiner) of the 2013 Year Old Man. "Onan was falling one day and grabbed on to himself and fell in love."

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