"Gratuitous" is a judgment: profanity loses its shock value if you lace everything you say/write with it. I don't know if the rest of her writing is like that (my recollection is that it isn't), but this piece was too heavy on it. A well placed "fuck" can add a lot, if used judiciously, but it's the kind of thing where you only sit up and take notice of it due to its absence elsewhere.
