Sex workers have long been bellwethers for major shifts in the economy — and they’re also more in touch with military action than your average civilian.

Even if you’ve managed to avoid the news and aren’t aware of the Trump administration’s war with Iran and the skyrocketing gas prices accompanying it, erotic dancers and sex workers are paying attention and noticing a shift.

HuffPost spoke with members of the sex worker community about what they’re seeing right now and what it might indicate, using their stage names when requested, as well as their preferred titles.

In a recent TikTok post, erotic dancer Charm Daze posted a now-viral video about seeing an uptick in young clients who are openly discussing being deployed very soon. Charm, who is based in San Diego, captioned her video with, “In my nearly a decade in the clubs I have never experienced anything like this tbh.”

She said she was surprised and saddened by the U.S. defense and military clients’ talk of their impending deployment, as well as by their youthful appearance. She mentioned working near several military bases and described the troops she works with, saying “a lot of them are really kind” and look very young, “like fetuses.” She added, “I don’t want to spread misinformation or anything, but it’s just like, there are a lot of them.”

In my nearly a decade in the clubs I have never experienced anything like this tbh

Charm’s video, which has been shared over 16,000 times and has more than 1,500 comments on TikTok, has also been widely shared on other social networks and garnered media attention — not all positive. The New York Post shared the story, but claimed troops were “blabbing” and “blowing operational security.” The Sun raised alarm about troops “sharing top secret deployment dates while she doles out lap dances,” and The Economic Times reported the video might cause operational security issues.

The White House has not spoken out about the video publicly or addressed the concerns raised in the media.

What Charm conveyed is not just a possible increase in military action (which has already been widely reported on), but also the youth of the troops and the empathy and sadness she feels for them — an aspect of the emotional work people in her field have discussed for some time. The comments in her post are filled with notes from fellow erotic dancers and sex industry workers echoing Charm’s claims and sharing their own feelings about how they provide a safe space and a version of therapy for their clients.

There’s a term to describe the reports from Charm and others in her industry right now: the “stripper index.” Typically considered a marker of economic shifts, it can also be an indicator of other major world changes — like the multiple crises fueled by the Trump administration’s “Operation Epic Fury,” which has affected more than just our armed forces and the Iranian people, but also world trade.

One commenter on Charm’s video joked that instead of “boots on the ground,” it’s “heels.” Another commenter wrote that these dancers’ observations are “a recession indicator, inflation indicator, wartime indicator,” and that while he was in the U.S. Navy, the “midnight ballerinas” — a nickname for adult dancers — “knew when my carrier was pulling in before the crew knew we were pulling in.”

Emma, an adult dancer who also commented on Charm’s video, told HuffPost she’s “absolutely” seen an increase in her military and defense clients. “Mainly the younger guys. Some of the men I hadn’t seen in almost a year until these past couple months.”

Emma said she had a recent client return from deployment overseas, and that he told her they had bombed a village in the Middle East and “killed so many people.” She commented that this client, who is a regular of hers, was not himself: “He was genuinely hollow. He drank so much that night he puked into his hands at the table. He cried and told me they’d likely go back on deployment soon. But most of them seem scared, honestly.”

Sol Cirocco, a professional dancer and performer based in Miami who works in nightlife and live entertainment environments, also said she has recently noticed more clients in the military or with defense-related backgrounds.

Cirocco told HuffPost that dancers in “nightlife spaces” notice client behavior and trends before they become more widely visible — like erratic spending, for example.

“Performers and staff tend to notice spending patterns and overall energy fairly quickly,” Cirocco said. She’s feeling a “shift,” she said, and seeing more “high-energy spending” with more “urgency” that’s not typical.

When Charm shared her video on Instagram, a stripper and pole instructor who also goes by the name Emma applauded her for sharing.

“This is what emotional labor looks like in the strip club,” she wrote, adding that dancers are often “holding space for people who are lonely, grieving, deployed, disconnected — giving them a moment of connection and feeling seen, even when it stays in that room.”

Emma, who is based in Denver, told HuffPost he’s been in the adult entertainment industry for 18 years and focuses on connection, communication and the “human side” of the business.

“We’ve been speaking on emotional labor, energy management, and the reality of this work for a long time,” she said.

When videos like Charm’s become viral, she explained, there’s a fascination with the “sensual side of dancing,” but the actual conversations dancers and sex workers are trying to highlight get overlooked, such as how they manage clients’ emotional and psychological needs.

“I’ve sat with customers and cried with them because of what they’re carrying — grief, loneliness, things they don’t have space to process anywhere else,” she said.

Kristie Bish, an adult content creator, told HuffPost she hasn’t experienced an influx of military clients, but did have an interesting encounter with a military recruiter that suggests military action is revving up.

Bish performs a ventriloquism act that is usually live-streamed, but recently presented it at an awards show. After her performance, she said, a military recruiter approached her and asked if she would consider performing the puppet show on base to “boost morale.” Bish’s show is silly and fun, and focuses on “dirty adult humor,” starring a lion named Lionel Richy.

What many of the strippers and adult content creators stressed is how common it is for them to bear the emotional burdens of their clients. Several of them, particularly strippers who did not work during previous wars, expressed surprise at how challenging it is to navigate performing for U.S. troops while keeping up morale and simply finishing their shift.

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