No, you’re not a prude, and yes, it is a flaw in the writing. Writers who can’t generate emotional force from their plots and action resort to profanity.
I’m really tired of the excessive profanity these days, especially the overuse of the f-bomb. Our middle school English teachers were right when they when they warned us about this, as was Orwell when he wrote about the connection between the degeneration of language and the degeneration of thought.
I saw a LSSC monologue a while back. In response to whatever the latest GOP attack on truth, justice, and the American Way was that day, Steven Colbert served up a heartfelt “F*** YOU”, to rousing applause. Then he told a joke about bagels, and the punchline was that people who liked blueberry muffins should “just get a f***ing muffin.” It shows how the overuse of profanity robs it of its force, as our teachers said. If an f-bomb is an appropriate response to express our disapproval of someone’s choice of bagel flavors, then what are we supposed to say when, e.g., someone spouts disinformation and fallacies in order to excuse and promote sedition, insurrection, and undermining fundamental democratic institutions?
There is also evidence that profanity is processed by our brains differently (from studies of brain damage, Tourette’s syndrome, etc.). It irritates me that profanity comes to my own lips so quickly these days, maybe because of this overexposure.