I STILL say they're missing out on a goldmine by not using the contrast between Barbara's non-superhuman civilian identity - as you say, older, educated, civilized and perhaps a bit repressed - and the aggressively sexualized traits they've ascribed to the Cheetah, to turn her into THE COUGAR OF CRIME. Her OOC traits could even be attributed to the influence of the "Cougar Heat" flowing through her veins, which only grows STRONGER with age, but which Barbara herself would learn to rein in somewhat, and would still be lucid enough to comment on in a snarky fashion ("Yes, this is why I'm dressing like Cher now"). As long as they're reducing her to wank-fodder, they might as well a) find a way to still respect her intelligence, and b) have a goddamn SENSE OF HUMOR about it. She should become a Colleen Coover-style character!
Bonus points if Barbara starts kidnapping the just-turned-18 male sidekicks and junior supers of the DCU, because, hey, if the Hunter Zolomon version of Zoom can try to put Linda Park into a fridge to try and make Wally West "a better superhero," why can't Barbara do the same with Tim or Kon or Bart, or even Jaime? Only, you know, less with the killings of loved ones, and more with the hot intergenerational sex?