Do female-specific bikes really make the difference?

[brigada]

I've been hanging out with some fellow female cyclists lately and the topic of female-specific bikes tends to come up fairly often. To be more precise, it surprised me that the girls won't even consider trying out non-female-specific bikes, and whenever girls new to the sport ask for buying advice on our local forum, they only suggest female-specific rides.

Personally, I'm 5'7" and I've had mixed results in my admittedly limited experience. I did ride female-specific mountain bikes where I liked the fit, but it goes both ways. I ended up buying a 16" men's frame with a longer than average top tube. It's built up with all the regular parts - 80mm stem, 620mm handlebars - nothing out of the ordinary. And the only thing I'm not fully content with is the saddle. Moreover, it just so happens that the stock bike I feel fit me best of the ones I got to try was a men's bike.

While I acknowledge the obvious benefits of smaller frames being available and actually being well proportioned for the riders a couple of inches shorter than myself, I can't help but think that riders of my height or taller will see few benefits from the female-specific geometry. In fact, I would also point shorter guys towards female-specific frames so they too can take advantage of the smaller frames being available. But I might be missing something.

Have you had similar experiences? Or does my line of reasoning just point to my lack of experience?
Since so many of you here are seasoned riders with multiple different bikes, custom fitting and the like, I figured there's no harm in asking and gaining a better perspective, or even better appreciation of female-specific bikes