diff --git a/djangorestframework/request.py b/djangorestframework/request.py
index c5d982860..f79354a1e 100644
--- a/djangorestframework/request.py
+++ b/djangorestframework/request.py
@@ -1,4 +1,8 @@
 from djangorestframework.mediatypes import MediaType
+from djangorestframework.utils import as_tuple
+from djangorestframework.response import ResponseException
+from djangorestframework import status
+
 #from djangorestframework.requestparsing import parse, load_parser
 from django.http.multipartparser import LimitBytes
 from StringIO import StringIO
@@ -11,6 +15,8 @@ class RequestMixin(object):
     CONTENTTYPE_PARAM = "_content_type"
     CONTENT_PARAM = "_content"
 
+    parsers = ()
+
     def _get_method(self):
         """
         Returns the HTTP method for the current view.
@@ -33,7 +39,10 @@ class RequestMixin(object):
         """
         if not hasattr(self, '_content_type'):
             content_type = self.request.META.get('HTTP_CONTENT_TYPE', self.request.META.get('CONTENT_TYPE', ''))
-            self._content_type = MediaType(content_type)
+            if content_type:
+                self._content_type = MediaType(content_type)
+            else:
+                self._content_type = None
         return self._content_type
 
 
@@ -68,8 +77,15 @@ class RequestMixin(object):
         if not hasattr(self, '_stream'):
             request = self.request
 
+            try:
+                content_length = int(request.META.get('CONTENT_LENGTH', request.META.get('HTTP_CONTENT_LENGTH')))
+            except (ValueError, TypeError):
+                content_length = 0
+                
             # Currently only supports parsing request body as a stream with 1.3
-            if hasattr(request, 'read'):
+            if content_length == 0:
+                return None
+            elif hasattr(request, 'read'):
                 # It's not at all clear if this needs to be byte limited or not.
                 # Maybe I'm just being dumb but it looks to me like there's some issues
                 # with that in Django.
@@ -152,6 +168,9 @@ class RequestMixin(object):
         May raise a 415 ResponseException (Unsupported Media Type),
         or a 400 ResponseException (Bad Request).
         """
+        if stream is None or content_type is None:
+            return None
+
         parsers = as_tuple(self.parsers)
 
         parser = None
diff --git a/djangorestframework/tests/content.py b/djangorestframework/tests/content.py
index 31fcf892e..5e77472da 100644
--- a/djangorestframework/tests/content.py
+++ b/djangorestframework/tests/content.py
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 from django.test import TestCase
 from djangorestframework.compat import RequestFactory
 from djangorestframework.request import RequestMixin
+from djangorestframework.parsers import FormParser, MultipartParser
 #from djangorestframework.content import ContentMixin, StandardContentMixin, OverloadedContentMixin
 #
 #
@@ -31,16 +32,17 @@ class TestContentMixins(TestCase):
 #    # Common functionality to test with both StandardContentMixin and OverloadedContentMixin
 #
     def ensure_determines_no_content_GET(self, view):
-        """Ensure determine_content(request) returns None for GET request with no content."""
+        """Ensure view.RAW_CONTENT returns None for GET request with no content."""
         view.request = self.req.get('/')
         self.assertEqual(view.RAW_CONTENT, None)
-#
-#    def ensure_determines_form_content_POST(self, mixin):
-#        """Ensure determine_content(request) returns content for POST request with content."""
-#        form_data = {'qwerty': 'uiop'}
-#        request = self.req.post('/', data=form_data)
-#        self.assertEqual(mixin.determine_content(request), (request.META['CONTENT_TYPE'], request.raw_post_data))
-#
+
+    def ensure_determines_form_content_POST(self, view):
+        """Ensure determine_content(request) returns content for POST request with content."""
+        form_data = {'qwerty': 'uiop'}
+        view.parsers = (FormParser, MultipartParser)
+        view.request = self.req.post('/', data=form_data)
+        self.assertEqual(view.RAW_CONTENT, form_data)
+
 #    def ensure_determines_non_form_content_POST(self, mixin):
 #        """Ensure determine_content(request) returns (content type, content) for POST request with content."""
 #        content = 'qwerty'
@@ -64,12 +66,12 @@ class TestContentMixins(TestCase):
 #    # StandardContentMixin behavioural tests
 #
     def test_standard_behaviour_determines_no_content_GET(self):
-        """Ensure StandardContentMixin.determine_content(request) returns None for GET request with no content."""
+        """Ensure request.RAW_CONTENT returns None for GET request with no content."""
         self.ensure_determines_no_content_GET(RequestMixin())
-#
-#    def test_standard_behaviour_determines_form_content_POST(self):
-#        """Ensure StandardContentMixin.determine_content(request) returns content for POST request with content."""
-#        self.ensure_determines_form_content_POST(StandardContentMixin())
+
+    def test_standard_behaviour_determines_form_content_POST(self):
+        """Ensure request.RAW_CONTENT returns content for POST request with content."""
+        self.ensure_determines_form_content_POST(RequestMixin())
 #
 #    def test_standard_behaviour_determines_non_form_content_POST(self):
 #        """Ensure StandardContentMixin.determine_content(request) returns (content type, content) for POST request with content."""