Letters to the Editor
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It won't change
For those of us who have seen a fair number of shows and movies with men in drag, there is a new generation of people who have not. They'll find it just as fresh and titillating as we did when we were, oh, 16 years old. There will always be a market for it and Hollywood markets to the date night crowd (teenaged males). They call it "asses in seats". I say that its "asses" in both meanings of the word.
There's a sad thing where producers seem to believe a male comedian in drag to be more marketable than a female comedian. I'd rather see Whoopi Goldberg being a lunatic than a man in drag being a lunatic. I've seen some heavyset female comedians on Comedy Central in little segments who can be such a hoot and they get almost no air time. Roseanne( a heavyset white woman) was very lucky to get on the air at all. Even then, she went through a total body mod during the run of her program. But, they serve it and we gladly eat it.
Interestingly enough, the Monty Python crowd did drag simply because they were understaffed. They had a couple of women (Carol Cleveland, for example), but did the female roles themselves. They weren't particularly mocking, either. Some of the female drag roles (especially when Palin and Idle did them) were not unattractive at all. However, I kept wishing they could have afforded to hire a few middle aged ladies and suburban housewife types.