We document the historical roots and contemporary consequences of masculinity norms—beliefs about the proper conduct of men. We exploit a natural experiment in which convict transportation in the \(18^{\textrm{th}}\) and \(19^{\textrm{th}}\) centuries created a variegated spatial pattern of sex ratios across Australia. We show that in areas with heavily male-biased convict populations, relatively more men volunteered for World War I about a century later. Even at present these areas remain characterized by more violence, higher rates of male suicide and other forms of preventable male mortality, and more male-stereotypical occupational segregation. Moreover, in these historically male-biased areas, more Australians recently voted against same-sex marriage and boys—but not girls—are more likely to be bullied in school. We interpret these results as manifestations of masculinity norms that emerged due to intense local male-male competition. Once established, masculinity norms persisted over time through family socialization as well as peer socialization in schools.

我们记录了男性气质规范（对男性正确行为的信念）的历史根源和当代后果。我们利用了一项自然实验，其中\(18^{\textrm{th}}\)和\(19^{\textrm{th}}\)世纪的囚犯运输创造了澳大利亚各地性别比例的多样化空间模式。我们发现，在囚犯人口中男性严重偏向的地区，大约一个世纪后，相对较多的男性自愿参加第一次世界大战。即使在目前，这些地区的特点仍然是更多的暴力、更高的男性自杀率和其他形式的可预防的男性死亡率，以及更多的男性陈规定型职业隔离。此外，在这些历来以男性为偏见的地区，最近有更多澳大利亚人投票反对同性婚姻，男孩（而非女孩）更有可能在学校受到欺凌。我们将这些结果解释为由于当地激烈的男性竞争而出现的男性气质规范的表现。男性气质规范一旦建立，就会通过家庭社会化以及学校的同伴社会化持续存在。