She was born on 22 June 1966 to father Stanisław Szczuka, a lawyer and a political dissident in the times of
PRL, and mother Janina (
née Winawer), a doctor from an assimilated Polish-Jewish family. She is a great-great-granddaughter of chess player
Szymon Winawer. She is a graduate of the
University of Warsaw where she obtained her
MA degree under supervision of
Maria Janion. She published articles in such newspapers and magazines as
Gazeta Wyborcza,
Res Publica Nova,
Teksty Drugie and
Zadra. She also taught
gender studies at the Institute of Literary Research of the
Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN). She has collaborated with the
Krytyka Polityczna circle of intellectuals and Feminoteka
women's rights organization. In 2003, she was one of the host of the
Pegaz culture programme aired on the Polish state-run television
Telewizja Polska (TVP). She was dismissed by TVP after she publicly used swear words in a live interview with
Manuela Gretkowska. In 2004, she published her book
Milczenie owieczek (The Silence of Little Lambs) in which she discussed such topics as the right to
abortion,
birth control and
sex education. Szczuka is a member of the
Greens 2004 party, advocate of
LGBT rights and supporter of pro-choice rights for women. She is a member of the Programme Council of the green political foundation the Green Institute. She works for
TVN24 in
Wydanie drugie poprawione. She has worked since 2003 for
TVN in
Najsłabsze Ogniwo (the Polish version of
The Weakest Link) and in
Dwururka. She has also appeared as a juror on
Top Model TV show and as an expert on the
Milionerzy game show. In September 2022, she became a host of the popular
RMF FM Afternoon Talk Show (
Popołudniowa rozmowa RMF FM) broadcast on the
RMF FM radio station. ==Controversy==