That is 100% true for cannibalism as well. But I bet your cyclops doesn't get hard for that.
Sure, hard vore and gore are a big turn-off for me. But while both kinds of vore share that same draw, in soft vore the act of eating itself is more a means to an end, as opposed to hard vore where the gory act is the main appeal (at least that's how I understand it).
To that point, there are anal, vaginal and tail vore (the most famous example being the Cell absorption scenes in dragon ball) where the person is sucked whole through those holes. These alternative types of vore break any interpretations which posit that vore simply boils down to the concept of eating.
Maybe the key for vore fetish is that the target stay alive and she see her dominant enemy which demoralizing her. So vore is a super twisted rape fetish.
Consensual vores exists, where both the predator and prey consent to the act and even some where the predator simply keeps regurgitating the person back out. In those types, the main draw is the shared warmth of being inside a loved one, or being submissive to the point of enjoying being eaten.
This reinforces my point that it is hard to boil down the vore fetish to a single interpretation. But regarding the non-con types of vore, sure I guess it can be seen as a rape fetish in a manner of speaking.