Was the world READY for this type of movie in 1975?

Considering how when one of the very first films about a train passing through in 1899 or so freaked the audience out in the theatre it was premiered in, would a film like Salo have freaked audiences for the most part in 1975 given how it portrayed some graphic and disturbing scenes of torture and violence and degradation and whatnot, and is that reaction normal or wrong, thanks.