Pee-Shy

Book excerpt: A successful doctor faces the lingering trauma of sexual abuse—and the former Scoutmaster who molested him—in this “refreshingly honest” memoir (Publishers Weekly). Growing up on Staten Island in the 1970s, Frank Spinelli’s working-class Italian parents viewed cops and priests as second only to the Pope. His mother, concerned that her son was being bullied at school for being “different,” signed Frank up for Boy Scouts when he turned eleven. For the next two years, Frank’s life had two realities—one lived in full view of his family, and the other a secret he shared with his Scoutmaster that he couldn’t confess to anybody. Eventually Frank went to college, established a thriving medical practice, and found a home in Manhattan. But the emotional and physical effects of his past continued to shadow every aspect of his life. Then a shocking discovery gave Frank the opportunity to overturn thirty years of confusion and self-blame—for himself, and for other boys like him. “This is one of those horrific, true stories that Dr. Spinelli so courageously reveals . . . His story is one of too many, but maybe, this one will help open our eyes a little more and shine a light on a taboo subject that many chose not to see.” —Whoopi Goldberg