The interrelationship between masculinity and crime has been recognised when it comes to violent or explicitly ‘gendered’ offences. The role of gender in property offending has received less attention. This article draws on letters to judges and police character reports – items that went from being intermittent to almost standard inclusions in Australian legal briefs between the 1920s and 1950s – to examine the changing ideals of masculinity evident in men’s attempts to contextualise their property offending. These sources demonstrate that the conceptions of masculinity that men expressed were structured in relation to a range of changing social factors, from the evolution of the Australian economy and family unit to the psychological impact of war on the nation’s men. It will be argued that three models of masculinity – the tough man, working man and family man – influenced the ways in which male thieves presented themselves to Australian courts across the interwar period.

中文翻译：

---

“我是有尊严的人”：二十世纪初西澳大利亚的男子气概和盗窃

在涉及暴力或明确的“性别”犯罪时，男子气概与犯罪之间的相互关系已得到承认。性别在财产犯罪中的作用较少受到关注。本文利用写给法官的信件和警察的品格报告——这些项目从 1920 年代到 1950 年代澳大利亚法律简报中的间歇性内容变成了几乎标准的内容——来研究男性试图将他们的财产犯罪置于背景下时明显变化的阳刚之气的理想。这些资料表明，男性表达的阳刚之气的概念与一系列不断变化的社会因素有关，从澳大利亚经济和家庭单位的演变到战争对国家男性的心理影响。人们会争辩说，三种男子气概模型——硬汉、