Wealth & Money Quote by Candace Bushnell

Candace Bushnell’s line lands like a well-aimed pin in the balloon of “post-feminist” complacency. It’s not that society can’t imagine women succeeding; it can’t relax when that success comes with leverage. “Uncomfortable” is the tell: a soft word that smuggles in something harsher - suspicion, backlash, the reflex to police. Money and power aren’t just achievements here; they’re disruptions to a social script that still prefers women legible as desirable, selfless, or “relatable” rather than autonomous.

The intent is diagnostic, almost tabloid in its clarity: watch what happens when a woman stops needing permission. Bushnell, best known for mapping the emotional economy of dating and status, understands money as romance’s hidden infrastructure and power as its ultimate spoiler. In the world her work helped popularize, women are encouraged to “have it all” so long as the “all” doesn’t include the kind of financial independence that changes who gets to leave, who gets to demand, who gets to define the terms.

The subtext is that discomfort is a social control mechanism. A wealthy woman is “cold,” “high-maintenance,” “intimidating.” A powerful woman is “bossy,” “calculating,” “unlikable.” These are not personality critiques; they’re containment strategies.

Context matters: the quote arrives in an era of women’s visible gains paired with a booming industry of resentment - from boardroom “likability” metrics to online pile-ons. Bushnell’s point isn’t that money or power corrupt; it’s that they clarify. They expose how much of equality is still conditional on women staying, in some way, small.