Example of female typist covering keyboard up with handkerchief to show how light the touch needed would be.

"Note that the handkerchief is hardly ruffled."

I feel like that time period and the century before, being able to do something through a thin piece of cloth was indicative of how little effort was required, or how dainty something could be. It definitely feels very gendered to me, but I'll have to find other historical examples to back this argument up.