Yes. You rember the movie irreversible? It had pretty much the exact same discourse. The goal was to make a scene impossible to enjoy. However the nature of film is that is hard to do. We have hentai. We know what it looks like when that kinda thing is made to be enjoyed. It doesn't look like that. Obviously the execution was lacking or we wouldn't be having this conversation. I think the average anime fan's take on this is based on their discomfort with the scene and transferring their negative emotions to the show. Which is not completely invalid. I do not think the work deserves the work of getting past that. It never really earns the payoff for setting that scene up. However for the rest of the 23 episodes I think the show works in ways that are really dissimilar to other anime and is artistically interesting. If there was a recut that handles that first scene as they do it the rest of the work I think the reception would be entirely different.

However no, the sexual violence in SAO is supposed to be enjoyed. Some as titillating, and some as cathartic. In GS it is supposed to be grimdark and impossible to get catharsis from. The work doesn't accomplish it's goals fully. It comes enough to be interesting though I think