Fearing society's judgments, in which rape and other forms of sexual torture are looked upon as taboo to discuss, victims were forced to keep quiet about their adversities, even among themselves. Like other victims of war, men that were sexually abused suffer from post-traumatic stress (i.e. difficulty sleeping, night-sweats, fear, tension, poor concentration, flashbacks, etc.) and difficulty functioning sexually. They also have wavering moods: from depression to aggressive assaults. In one single moment, the victim unconsciously identifies with the one that sexually abused him.
Every victim is degraded and intimately suffers from his traumatic experience. Talking about the incident returns his feeling of self-confidence because the victim feels that he can contribute to something useful, like finding the criminal, for example. Likewise, he also frees himself of the feeling of guilt that perhaps his behavior provoked the pathological conduct of his enemy, explains Dr. Mladen Loncar, head of the medical center for men's rights in Zagreb. According to Mr. Loncar, this type of traumatic experience is something that hasn't been recorded in history. The systematic mistreatment of thousands of men (rape, beatings on the genitals, castration...) has left psychological scars on many.