Want to keep your search history pristine? Don’t Google the word “quimm.” We’ll save you the click-through: It’s old-timey slang for certain female anatomy. In Victorian England, it was a vulgar insult; in modern-day United States, it’s too obscure for notice.

But Las Vegas burlesque artists Darby Fox and Charlie Quinn Starling are reclaiming the term. “Quimms for us, beyond the literal, are femmes by birth or identification who don’t follow the rules of the patriarchy,” Starling says.

The idea for Quimm City Productions was born last December, when Starling was performing at the Savannah Burlesque Festival in Georgia. She bought two queenly Tudor-style gowns on clearance from a local costume shop with a plan to develop a historical act with Fox as the Boleyn Sisters.

“We decided that we would rather build a company together,” Starling says. “We’re both pretty nerdy. We both really enjoy sci fi and fantasy — and history, in particular. There is definitely a gap in the market for that kind of cerebral sluttery here in town.”

The two women offer a powerful combination of assets, both physical and mental. In addition to being a performer and stage manager, Fox works as a curator and archivist for the Burlesque Hall of Fame Museum. Equipped with a master’s in history from UNLV, Fox jokes that she’s a “ecdysiologist,” a fancy way to say a person who studies strippers.

Starling sings and dances in Absinthe, runs an Only Fans page and, during non-COVID times, dances at Spearmint Rhino. Both make costumes.

Together, they’ve equipped Quimm City with three main objectives. The first is live performance, with “shows curated to celebrate femmes of all shapes, sizes, colors and walks of life,” according to their Patreon website.

“Las Vegas is pretty much the only major city in the U.S. that doesn’t have burlesque and other types of atmospheric entertainment in venues,” Starling says. “It’s just mind-boggling to me. That is something that we definitely want to change … once the plague passes.”

For the time being, the planned themed, immersive live shows have been limited, and digital content has predominated. They did manage to put on a socially distanced Halloween show at Baobab Stage. To give an example of their private events, Starling performed a fan dance as an owl for a Harry Potter-themed wedding party.

Right now the women are recuperating from COVID-19, but as soon as it’s safe, they plan to create some digital-exclusive performances.

The second aspect of Quimm City is the soon-to-debut Quimm History Podcast. It will be available first for Quimm City Patreon members and then will open up to all the usual podcast venues. Each episode will spotlight a different “badly behaved femme” from history.

Their goal, according to Fox, is to “lean into telling stories that have not been told, either because of whorephobia or misogyny or racism or all of these ‘isms’ that severely limit the narratives that exist today.”

They hope to “reclaim” history and give voice to those who have been silenced or ignored. “I think femmes on the naughty side of the scale have done a lot more shaping of history than they’re given credit for,” Starling says.

The third prong is a livestream/podcast called The Whorror Show, in which Fox and Starling watch and discuss horror films in their skivvies. Anyone can listen to the audio, but the visuals are limited to subscribers.

One of the core values of Quimm City Productions is to make sure that performers and creatives get paid, hence the use of a paid Patreon. “Properly compensating people in this field is something that’s very important to us,” Fox says.

“The overwhelming talent that is here deserves to be paid properly,” Starling adds, “because another trend in Las Vegas is that gig workers get paid less than most other cities in the U.S.”

Even though the founders are two white women, Starling and Fox say they value diversity and plan to spotlight performers of all types. “It is incredibly important to us not only to showcase the talent that exists outside of that skinny white box, but also to cater to audience members who want that, because they exist, too,” Starling says.

Quimm City Productions Patreon.com/quimmcity, memberships $5-$20 per month.