Hillary Clinton supporters are employing a tried-and-true defense in the wake of the renewed FBI investigation into the Democratic presidential nominee’s emails: It’s “sexist.”

Writing in Time magazine, University of California, Berkeley linguistics professor Robin Lakoff described the investigation into the private server Mrs. Clinton used while secretary of state as a “bitch hunt.”

“I am mad,” Ms. Lakoff wrote. “I am mad because I am scared. And if you are a woman, you should be, too. Emailgate is a bitch hunt, but the target is not Hillary Clinton. It’s us.

“The only reason the whole email flap has legs is because the candidate is female,” she ​wrote. “Can you imagine this happening to a man? Clinton is guilty of SWF (Speaking While Female), and emailgate is just a reminder to us all that she has no business doing what she’s doing and must be punished, for the sake of all decent women everywhere.

“Clinton has repeatedly apologized, but apparently not enough for her accusers,” the professor continued.​ ​”In fact, her apologies were her only mistake. By apologizing she acknowledged guilt. But that’s what women are supposed to do (because women are always guilty of something).​”

National Book Award winner Joyce Carol Oates echoed that sentiment, arguing that the investigation into whether Mrs. Clinton’s use of a private email server compromised national security interests is “sexist.”

If the former secretary of state’s emails are subject to FBI scrutiny, Ms. Oates said, then so should those of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.

“Time to investigate FBI emails. GOP emails. T***p emails,” Ms. Oates tweeted Monday, ​censoring Mr. Trump’s name. “Why focus exclusively on Hillary Clinton? Insane bias, indefensible & sexist.”

FBI director James Comey announced Friday that the bureau is taking another look at Mrs. Clinton’s email practices, after investigators found 650,000 emails on a laptop purportedly belonging to disgraced former ​Congressman​​ Anthony Weiner, the estranged husband of top Clinton confidant Huma Abedin.

​​The emails were reportedly uncovered in a separate probe into the possibility that Mr. Weiner sent sexually lewd messages to a teenage minor.

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