2015 was undeniably the year of the beard. From retirement beards and red-carpet beards to NFL beards, men just couldn't get enough of their god-given scruff. If one group skipped out on making such a literal and figurative masculine gesture, it was politicians. And that's on purpose. The Atlantic interviewed Rebekah Herrick, an Oklahoma State University professor who studied the phenomenon and found that the reason fewer than 5% of Congress have facial hair is because they don’t want to adopt a persona that might make them look insensitive to women’s issues. According to Herrick, this isn't just politicians being paranoid. In her study, women subconsciously perceived politicians with beards and mustaches as being less feminist, regardless of their actual voting habits.

So how does Paul Ryan and his new beard fit into all of this? The Atlantic points to several other studies which echo Herrick’s findings—that beards are perceived as a sign of hyper-masculinity—while also reporting that women have been shown to find men with facial hair more attractive. Since Paul Ryan has made no secret of his position on key women’s issues (namely, his desire to defund Planned Parenthood) maybe he’s just cutting his loses and hoping he can endear women with his grizzly facial hair instead? Seems like a long shot, if you ask us.

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