Terms like “arm candy” and “wallflower” aren’t explicitly gendered, but they’re the sort of hyper-critical comments about someone’s looks or behavior that are generally more likely to be directed at women. In her new show, Words For Women, photographer Anna Friemoth mocks these phrases by styling herself and other models as the literal embodiment of the terms. In Butterface, she literally smears a stick of butter on her face. The arms of the model in Arm Candy are wrapped in crinkly polka dotted plastic of the kind that encases the sweets filling the glass bowls on every grandma’s coffee table. Seeing the terms depicted so literally makes it clear just how ridiculous they really are.

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