Memoirs of a Saudi Ph.D. student: All about funny stereotypes

WOW you are from Saudi Arabia, is it true that you cannot drive? Wow you are Saudi, is it true that your male guardian is controlling your life? You are Saudi? Then why you are not covered in black from head to toe? Wow you are Saudi, no way you look normal. These are some funny stereotypes that some people tend to believe about Saudi Arabia, although they sound funny and we are tempted, as Saudi women, to judge the person who is stereotyping as narrow-minded or shallow. But to be fair, why wouldn’t they believe in their media?
Whenever Saudi Arabia is mentioned, you will either see oil production plant (if they are talking in economic terms), or a woman covered from head to toe in black and walking behind her husband if the report is about social issues.
Recently you only see reports about our battle to drive (which is a very fair and pressing issue for us). After all these, why wouldn’t an ordinary person living in the city of Leeds (for example) and working from 9 to 5 will believe that all Saudis are oppressed when he watches a TV program that presents Saudi Arabia as a land of wealth and oppression? It’s just normal.
On the other hand, is his/her opinion really important? If that ordinary person believes that Hijab is oppression and kept his opinion to himself and did not insult publicly, is it really important to try and change his/her opinion? I think we are wasting lots of time and efforts in trying to change others’ perspective about us, and sometimes we may end up thinking that people are discriminating against us and treating us differently, and that is resulting from the very deep belief that they are stereotyping us, so we end up not being comfortable and that becomes unbearable for us.
Let’s be honest with ourselves, if they are stereotyping, aren’t we stereotyping as well? I am one of the people who tend to believe that western people have no family bonds and that parents kick out their children from their homes when they are 16 or ask them to pay for their stay, and when they leave the house, they never visit their parents, and I also believed that all men and women are unfaithful to their spouses and they all know and accept that.
I changed my perspective gradually when I started reading their literature and reading magazines and newspapers and started realizing that although their concept of family is quite different than ours, they do have family bonds and I always see grandparents taking care of their grandchildren, picking them from schools and taking them to parks, and I am quite sure that my original opinion and the changed one does not matter to them because it was my personal opinion.
Changing the perception has been good for me, I am more open minded now. I have stopped taking things personally and reached a very peaceful state of mind, but is it necessary for me to fight the guy in Leeds to reach a peaceful state of mind?
Accepting others on a very personal level is a personal choice, what I need from others is respect not love, and in the UK for example, they have very strict laws that criminalize racism at all levels, so for me, if the person sitting in front of me in the tram hates Islam and hates my country, it’s not my problem unless she expresses that and insults me and if she needs help in pushing her baby's pram I will smile and give her a hand.