Moms celebrate rave culture on social media

FOX5NY.COM - One photo shows a woman clad in a fuzzy costume. The next, a mom posing for selfies with her kids. They are the same woman, both mother and all-night raver.

A subculture of moms has taken to the Instagram page momswhorave to express their dual lifestyles. Currently the group has almost 1,700 followers.

Nicole, a 32-year-old mother of two who lives in Weehawken, runs the offshoot momswhoravenyc.  She says if dancing is in your heart and makes you happy, you shouldn't stop just because you become a mom.

As a single mom with a full time job, Nicole says she goes to these raves on average twice a month. She is gone anywhere from 3 to 4 hours to 3 or 4 days. Her two young boys -- ages 6 and 8 -- stay with either family or a babysitter.  She likens her raving to a girls' night out or a married couple's getaway.

Critics of momswhorave argue it's not just a girls' night out. Especially when there are elements of drug use, considered a big part of rave culture.

Nicole admits that she has done drugs on occasion, but not in a while because she is responsible for two small children.

While Nicole admits to sometimes taking the drug molly, a pure form of ecstasy, she also says a big part of why she started momswhoravenyc is to shut down the idea that raving and drug abuse go hand in hand and to show that moms can be productive and well-rounded.

But Dr. Robert Glatter, an ER physician, says being productive and well-rounded is not the lesson kids exposed to this behavior are learning. He says this is nothing to celebrate because it is a dangerous behavior that can "lead to no good."

Nicole said that raving isn't the most responsible thing in the world for a parent to do, but it isn't the worst, either, if you know your limits and be safe.