Harriton Student Council decided to change the name of the “escort,” to the uncontroversial and more appropriate terms of “partner” and “date,” for their upcoming Mr. Harriton competition. The move comes after pressure from the Harriton High School administration to change the term used for the girls who accompany the Mr. Harriton contestants.

The Banner talked to Student Council’s teacher representative Mr. Robinson about their decision and the problem they had with the word “escort.”

“The word escort can be associated with something that is a negative term that is used within our society, so we wanted to be more school appropriate, and we felt like we could easily change the term to a more simple term such as partner or date, and we felt like that would be more school appropriate, and we thought it would be a way to improve Mr. Harriton.”

The word escort is synonymous with the word prostitute; problems with the word were first raised in an opinion article the Banner published last year.  The article, in part, read as follows:

“Perhaps the most conspicuously controversial aspect of the show is its use of the term ‘escort’ to describe the girls who accompany male contestants on stage. This Friday marks the seventh annual Mr. Harriton event, and the fact that this misogynistic phrasing has not been rectified yet baffles us. The word ‘escort’ is blocked on our school laptops, making it truly ironic that we find it appropriate to describe our teenage classmates and friends with this term that is synonymous to ‘prostitute.’ The escort name and innuendo is even further perpetuated by the fact that these girls’ roles in the show are to merely support their male counterparts and assist them, particularly through soliciting money from the audience during intermission…The fact that students take this name in jest is a debate within itself, but simply stated, the underlying message this title sends is one of female submissiveness, and the reference is too obvious to be ignored any longer.”

Not everyone had the same opinion that the Harriton Banner took last year. A Mr. Harriton contestant who spoke on the condition on anonymity told The Banner this.

“I think that it is personally ridiculous [to change the name], the whole purpose of Mr. Harriton is to make fun of beauty pageants, to change the name from escort to partner, it kind of takes away from the joke.”

He further added, “I don’t want to get labeled a sexist here but I don’t think it is [derogatory] because the whole point of the show is that we are making fun of something so like, calling them escorts, I have asked many of the escorts, they don’t have a problem with being called escorts. There is nothing wrong with being called escorts, and I don’t really see what is derogatory about being called an escort, if we were to have a female Mr. Harriton then what would you call the men, would you call them partners? I don’t see a problem with them being called escorts, I guarantee you [if] the girls were in our position they would agree… A lot of people agree with us [on this] but you know, I am not one to argue, [but when] Mrs. Marcuson makes a decision, I can’t fight it, it’s her final decision”

Mr. Robinson would not confirm or deny that there had been pressure from Harriton Administration. The Banner reached out to Mrs. Marcuson for comment and she directed The Banner to ask questions to Mr. Eveslage, at the time of the posting of this article Mr. Eveslage had not yet responded.

The Banner asked Mr. Robinson if The Banners article led to their decision of the name change.

“That [The Banner article] was a contributing factor,” Mr. Robinson said.

Mr. Robinson continued, “We always check in with The Harriton Banner, and the article that we read, we always want to improve the show, we listen to everybody, and we thought this would be a simple way to improve the show, and to be more appealing to the Harriton Community… The Banner is great, we love The Banner, The Banner has made the show better.”