Is comedy a fetish? Is Shakespeare a fetish?
It's simply a form of entertainment. It's been around forever. In Shakespeare's time all female roles were played by men.
We had as I already noted, Milton Berle camping it up. Some Like it Hot, Bosom Buddies, To Wang Fo, Thanks for Everything Julie Newmar, Heck even Max Baer played Jethrine on Beverly Hillbillies.
People sat around the television with the family and laughed and laughed. There are easily hundreds of examples one could point out. Flip Wilson as Geraldine.
It wasn't until Republicans, no longer able to run on the things like fiscal responsibility or other moral issues that anyone even cared.