In recent years, scholars have turned their attention to the nexus of mobility, space, and communication practices. At the same time, historians of information and communication technologies (ICTs) have amassed a large body of literature on the history of typewriters and their contribution to gendered office work. To date, however, these two strains have yet to converge. This article thus examines intersections between typewriting, gender, and mobility, focusing on the case of portable typewriters to investigate users’ “differential” mobilities before World War II in the United States. In this regard, it reconceives of typewriters as fluid historical objects defined significantly by their social contexts. It calls upon scholars to expand their characterizations of typing beyond thinking only of it as an immobile, desk-based practice and as “women’s work.” Instead, it draws attention to itinerant male typists as an early class of portable typewriter users who could (and were encouraged to) travel with a typewriter in tow. More broadly, the article also contributes to understandings of mobile media histories beyond mobile phones by demonstrating similar concerns related to portability, usability, and ergonomics in the early 20th century.

中文翻译：

---

被束缚的女性，流动的男性：打字的性别流动

近年来，学者们将注意力转向了流动性、空间和交流实践之间的联系。与此同时，信息和通信技术 (ICT) 的历史学家已经积累了大量关于打字机历史及其对性别办公室工作贡献的文献。然而，迄今为止，这两种菌株尚未收敛。因此，本文考察了打字、性别和移动性之间的交叉点，重点关注便携式打字机的案例，以调查美国二战前用户的“差异”移动性。在这方面，它将打字机重新设想为由其社会背景显着定义的流动历史对象。它呼吁学者们扩展他们对打字的描述，而不仅仅是将其视为不动的，基于案头的实践和“女性工作”。相反，它引起了人们对流动男性打字员的关注，他们是早期的便携式打字机用户，他们可以（并被鼓励）带着打字机旅行。更广泛地说，这篇文章还通过展示 20 世纪早期与便携性、可用性和人体工程学相关的类似问题，为理解移动电话以外的移动媒体历史做出了贡献。