diff --git a/netlib/http/message.py b/netlib/http/message.py
index e3d8ce375..4ddc1b818 100644
--- a/netlib/http/message.py
+++ b/netlib/http/message.py
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ import six
 from .headers import Headers
 from .. import encoding, utils
 
-CONTENT_MISSING = 0
+CONTENT_MISSING = None 
 
 if six.PY2:  # pragma: nocover
     _native = lambda x: x