Sen. Scott Brown: Abuse shaped his life

Scott Brown: 'That Life Made Me the Man I Am Today' Feb 21, 2011 – Sen. Scott Brown gave the first copy of his memoir, "Against All Odds," to his mother, Judith, weeks before news broke that he was sexually abused as a child by a camp counselor, the Massachusetts Republican told AOL News.

It was also the first time his mother would learn about the physical attacks allegedly inflicted on him by her husbands -- childhood traumas he had never shared with anyone.

"I told her, 'I think you need to read this, Mom.' I gave a copy to my sister [Leeann], and she tried to get her to read it too,'' Brown said. "She didn't. She was dealing with some health issues, and I'm not sure she wanted to really know what was in it. It's a difficult process now, but I don't regret writing the book."

U.S. Sen. Scott Brown of Massachusetts says he has no regrets about revealing that he was sexually abused by a camp counselor as a child.Brown said his mother still hasn't read the book, but they've spoken and she told him she's proud of him....

The sexual abuse Brown describes allegedly happened the summer after he finished the fourth grade, when the 10-year-old was sent to a Christian camp on Cape Cod. While he will not name his alleged abuser and said he will not seek prosecution against the man, Brown can recall everything about the assault.

"I can remember how he looked, every inch of him: his long, sandy, light brown hair; his long, full mustache; the beads he wore; the tie-dyed T-shirts and the cutoff jeans, which gave him the look of a hippie,'' Brown wrote. "I was standing there with my pants down, and he came right up next to me and asked me if I needed help, and then he reached out his hand."

What happened next was an account of a brutal fondling that ended only when Brown screamed. He didn't tell a soul because his abuser said, "If you tell anybody, I will kill you."

It was a threat Brown took seriously, citing the incident as one of the reasons he was such a strong proponent of victims' rights in the Massachusetts State House.

http://www.aolnews.com/2011/02/21/sen-scott-brown-no-regrets-about-revealing-sexual-abuse/

Sen. Scott Brown: Abuse shaped his life
By Susan Page, USA TODAY 2/21/11

WASHINGTON — When Massachusetts Republican Scott Brown agreed to write a book about last year's upset victory to claim the Senate seat of liberal icon Edward Kennedy, he didn't plan to reveal the story of a childhood of abuse that he had long kept secret from nearly everyone. In the end, he found he couldn't keep it hidden. Struggling with poverty and hunger, shoplifting to feed his younger sister and himself, enduring beatings by two stepfathers and fighting back against two separate sexual predators are all part of what he calls the "spider web" of his life, each thread building on the last....

But neither his wife, Gail, nor his parents knew that a counselor at a summer camp had accosted and fondled him at age 10. When Brown was 71/2, a teenage boy had taken him into a woods, pulled a knife and ordered him to perform a sex act. Brown managed to grab a rock, smash it into his tormentor's face and run free.

At age 6, he was beaten by one stepfather. Much worse were the beatings that came later from another stepfather, who repeatedly threatened to break his hands, an injury that would imperil the basketball career that offered him a way to attend college and, in his word, to "escape."
He credits teachers, coaches and a juvenile court judge who took an interest in him for giving him encouragement and resilience.

Brown expresses no regrets and shows no bitterness toward his mother, who drank too much, and his father, who in many ways was absent from the family by the time he was a toddler. He now has built positive relationships with both, calling their family ties "a work in progress."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2011-02-21-RW_scottbrown21_ST_N.htm