In April of 2007, 17-year-old Du'a Khalil Aswad was stoned to death. Her brutal murder, a so-called "honor killing" at the hands of family members and neighbors, was captured on video and posted on the Internet for the world to see. Upon learning of the murder, Joss Whedon, creator of TV's Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, Angel and Firefly, posted an impassioned essay about Aswad's fate and about the global reality of misogyny on his website. He appealed to his fans to do something active to break the cycle of violence against women. In answer to his plea, NOTHING BUT RED, an anthology of "responses" to both Khalil's death and the issues Whedon raised in his essay, was born. The book takes its name from the fact Aswad was beaten so badly that her facial features were obscured, her face was "nothing but red." With words and pictures, the authors and artists of NOTHING BUT RED strive to bring attention to the issue of violence against women worldwide, as well as the continuing need for equality. Sales of the 313-page collection, which can be purchased as a trade paperback for $17.95 or as a PDF-format e-book for $5.95 at lulu.com or nothingbutred.wordpress.com, will benefit the international human rights organization Equality Now. A full list of contributors can be found at nothingbutred.wordpress.com/contributors

Beautifully crafted, NOTHING BUT RED brings home, with stunning clarity, the fact that anybody who believes that violence against women is something that only happens in certain countries, amongst people of certain religions, or is a thing of the past, is sadly mistaken. This could be YOUR mother, YOUR sister, YOUR daughter, friend or niece. This could be YOU. The words and images captured in these pages will not fail to stir you to your very soul. The writing is raw, poignant and heartfelt. The images are haunting. Reading this book left me feeling frightened, horrified, saddened, disgusted, bewildered and enraged. It also left me with a burning desire to be a part of the solution, to help assure that "honor killings" and other atrocities become a thing of the past. Most importantly, it left me with a feeling of hope. Hope that because of the passion and conviction of the talented women and men who contributed to NOTHING BUT RED, things can change.

Book Summary

In April 2007, a group of men pulled seventeen-year-old Du’a Khalil Aswad into a mob. They proceeded to stone and beat her to death, a supposed "honor" killing for allegedly falling in love with a man of a different faith. Several camera phones recorded the entire incident from the front row, and videos later surfaced online. One month later, popular filmmaker Joss Whedon expressed his despair and outrage at the misogyny in all cultures on a fan-run blog. "Because it’s no longer enough to be a decent person," he wrote. "It’s no longer enough to shake our heads and make concerned grimaces at the news. True enlightened activism is the only thing that can save humanity from itself. I’ve always had a bent towards apocalyptic fiction, and I’m beginning to understand why. I look and I see the earth in flames. Her face was nothing but red." The arts anthology Nothing But Red was conceived as a way to raise both awareness of the issues he spoke of, as well as money for the charity Equality Now.