A gratuitous discussion!

I hear the word "gratuitous" bandied around a lot in discussions of YA literature. 

Gratuitous sex scenes.

Gratuitous violence.

Gratuitous language.

People are opposed to seeing ALL THIS GRATUITOUSNESS in books and it makes them mad and and disgusted and possibly not want to read the author who uses said gratuitousness ever again, etc, etc, etc.

Pardon me while I try to grasp what this even means. 

My dear friend Merriam-Webster defines "gratuitous" thusly:

1 a : given unearned or without...