I'm a 50+ year old woman and I ride both a Specialized Tricross and a Trek Allant WSD. It has been my feeling that a DF bike is more for sport, competition or recreation, whereas a step-thru is more urban or lifestyle oriented. I use my cyclocross DF for training rides to prep for touring and my step-thru for errands or getting around locally, and that includes 28-mile roundtrip rides to get dog food. For me, it is much easier to see traffic and stop suddenly on the Allant. I never understood why step-thru's were designated a "girl's" frame in the first place.