Firstly, I will humbly(I'm really not that humble) submit that aikido techniques are, in fact, very effective self defense in the REAL world. I would like to point out that the founder of Aikido, Morihei Ueshiba, had studied jujitsu, judo, and kendo and aikido was certainly rooted in those martial arts and borrows much from thier techniques. I will not say Ueshiba was a god, he would not have either, and it is certainly a misperception to say that he is worshiped as a god in any aikido dojo. He is simply revered as a great master, innovator, and a great teacher of the art.
I was taught judo as a child and found it to be excellent self defense in high school, where I was up against much larger adversaries with no knowledge of martial arts whatsoever. I am essentially a peaceful man and do not seek conflict, but nor will i allow myself to be bullied or allow my friends to be bullied. I weigh 145 pounds when i'm training, 150 or so when i'm not. I am 5', 8" tall. If there is a bully in the room or on the street there is a good chance that I am the one that they will choose. Bullies never single out the 240 pound 6'3 guy. They are cowardly at heart and will try to find someone they feel sure to beat.
The simplest techniques are generally the most effective in real situations, and the more so when attacked by one with no knowledge of them. Arm locks are an EXTREMELY effective way of imobilizing an attacker, whether the techniques were aquired studying judo, jiu-jitsu, wing chun, or wrestling/grappling for that matter. There is also intuition and that can not be under estimated as it becomes honed with experience until one really can sense what the other is going to do and take advantage of that advanced "knowledge". When dealing with multiple attackers, arm locks must be followed by either breaks or throws.
Aikido is certainly well suited to smaller people defending themselves against larger aggressors. I have successfully used Judo/Aikido techniques on the street, 3 years ago, in Toronto, Canada, against 3 adversaries, almost simultaneously. I walked away, with some bruised ribs and a sore ear, as did the two smaller of my opponents(although one was so fat he was almost as wide as he was tall). The largest of the 3, and the instigator of the fight, was 6', 5' and probably weighed in at over 200 lbs. He did not walk away and is still feeling the negative effects of the conflict to this day and perhaps for the rest of his life.
I suppose my point is that i do know for certain that Aikido techniques do work in Real life, in real self defense situations so anyone doubting it has not had the chance to witness it first hand. I have, so there is no doubt in my mind.
In the street fight i spoke of, by the way, i used a combination of techniques from various martial arts, not just aikido. I believe that one must be flexible, able to improvise and adjust one's techniques to the situation at hand. If one sticks rigidly to any one style or method, one risks becoming predictable (the last thing you want in any hand to hand combat) and unable to deal with the unexpected. For example, one of the fellows had a little australian sheep dog and as the dogs master stepped in to strike me, the dog ran in also to bite me on the leg. It was a split second decision to ignore the dog and focus on his master, who had already managed to strike me on the ear. He had a boxing style and stood squarely in his stance so i pretended that i was going to box with him, put my hands up, held his eyes with my eyes and stepped in to kick out his knee. On the way in i actually and quite by accident stepped on the dogs paw and he went howling away. I got a good strike on the outside of the fellows knee and he went down, which left me to deal with the first combatant, who had been initial arm locked and thrown but who had come back to engage again and the 3rd within the space of a few minutes. The 3rd fellow was, in fact, intercepted by a fruit mongers helper who had come out of the fruit shop to see what all the fuss was about, which is a good thing because he was very very fat and i wasn't really sure how to deal with him, having never had any experience with anyone quite so round.
Never did master humility, unfortuanately, the rarest and most attractive of human qualities and one that i do admire greatly in others on those rare occaisions when i see it. In fact i'm PROUD that i was able to defend myself and the honor of the woman i was with at the time and grateful that the techniques that had been passed on to me were in fact effective in a REAL situation with multiple opponents.
There are also other factors involved; it's not just the training. I feel that i was blessed with faster reflexes than most people and certainly faster than the larger folk. However, there is no doubt in my mind that training in judo/aikido saved my *** that day.
Peace, sincerely, Kmax