As someone who remembers, yes they were two different terms.

No it wasn’t. How old are you?

Part of the issue is that the original movie conflated both terms on purpose.

Um. No. A quick wiki search before posting might be useful.

“I like Cox but she was a lousy Dr. Frankenfuter. She was too safe. Curry’s version always felt on the verge of just having sex with everyone, butchering them and then having sex with their remains. He was dangerous and insane.”

Tim Curry in drag is both sexy AND menacing. That’s the point.

yep. you take the male and penis out of the equation and there’s not menace - no threat.

Absolutely. Here’s the thing, both back then and today, a man with a penis dressed as a woman = potential threat. You don’t know if he’s going to seduce Brad or rape him or eat him. Even if it is consensual sex, you don’t know who would do what to whom. There’s an element of menace.