diff --git a/actionpack/lib/action_view/helpers/form_options_helper.rb b/actionpack/lib/action_view/helpers/form_options_helper.rb
index e00ac8f3f2..f64d3907a2 100644
--- a/actionpack/lib/action_view/helpers/form_options_helper.rb
+++ b/actionpack/lib/action_view/helpers/form_options_helper.rb
@@ -616,13 +616,13 @@ module ActionView
       private
         def add_options(option_tags, options, value = nil)
           if options[:include_blank]
-            option_tags = "<option value=\"\">#{ERB::Util.html_escape(options[:include_blank]) if options[:include_blank].kind_of?(String)}</option>\n" + option_tags
+            option_tags = content_tag('option', options[:include_blank].kind_of?(String) ? options[:include_blank] : nil, :value => '') + "\n" + option_tags
           end
           if value.blank? && options[:prompt]
             prompt = options[:prompt].kind_of?(String) ? options[:prompt] : I18n.translate('helpers.select.prompt', :default => 'Please select')
-            option_tags = "<option value=\"\">#{ERB::Util.html_escape(prompt)}</option>\n" + option_tags
+            option_tags = content_tag('option', prompt, :value => '') + "\n" + option_tags
           end
-          option_tags.html_safe
+          option_tags
         end
 
         def select_content_tag(option_tags, options, html_options)
diff --git a/actionpack/test/template/form_options_helper_test.rb b/actionpack/test/template/form_options_helper_test.rb
index 62ab208c2e..5b19bcf0f9 100644
--- a/actionpack/test/template/form_options_helper_test.rb
+++ b/actionpack/test/template/form_options_helper_test.rb
@@ -495,7 +495,7 @@ class FormOptionsHelperTest < ActionView::TestCase
 
   def test_select_under_fields_for_with_string_and_given_prompt
     @post = Post.new
-    options = "<option value=\"abe\">abe</option><option value=\"mus\">mus</option><option value=\"hest\">hest</option>"
+    options = "<option value=\"abe\">abe</option><option value=\"mus\">mus</option><option value=\"hest\">hest</option>".html_safe
 
     output_buffer = fields_for :post, @post do |f|
       concat f.select(:category, options, :prompt => 'The prompt')
@@ -651,6 +651,13 @@ class FormOptionsHelperTest < ActionView::TestCase
     )
   end
 
+  def test_select_escapes_options
+    assert_dom_equal(
+      '<select id="post_title" name="post[title]">&lt;script&gt;alert(1)&lt;/script&gt;</select>',
+      select('post', 'title', '<script>alert(1)</script>')
+    )
+  end
+
   def test_select_with_selected_nil
     @post = Post.new
     @post.category = "<mus>"