diff --git a/django/http/parsers.py b/django/http/parsers.py
index 68f5b7129b..bd86c2dac7 100644
--- a/django/http/parsers.py
+++ b/django/http/parsers.py
@@ -8,6 +8,9 @@ from django.utils.datastructures import ImmutableList, MultiValueDict
 class BaseParser:
     media_type = None
 
+    def can_handle(self, media_type):
+        return media_type == self.media_type
+
     def parse(self, request):
         pass
 
diff --git a/django/http/request.py b/django/http/request.py
index 6966edafb6..118cdaeab7 100644
--- a/django/http/request.py
+++ b/django/http/request.py
@@ -363,7 +363,7 @@ class HttpRequest:
 
         selected_parser = None
         for parser in parser_list:
-            if self.content_type == parser.media_type:
+            if parser.can_handle(self.content_type):
                 selected_parser = parser
                 break
 
diff --git a/tests/requests_tests/test_parsers.py b/tests/requests_tests/test_parsers.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..5a1d5653fc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/requests_tests/test_parsers.py
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+from unittest import TestCase
+
+from django.http.parsers import BaseParser, FormParser, MultiPartParser
+
+
+class TestParsers(TestCase):
+    def test_can_handle(self):
+        parser = MultiPartParser()
+        self.assertIs(parser.can_handle("multipart/form-data"), True)
+        self.assertIs(parser.can_handle("application/json"), False)
+
+        parser = FormParser()
+        self.assertIs(parser.can_handle("application/x-www-form-urlencoded"), True)
+        self.assertIs(parser.can_handle("multipart/form-data"), False)
+
+    def test_custom_can_handle(self):
+        class CustomParser(BaseParser):
+            media_type = "text/*"
+
+            def can_handle(self, media_type):
+                main_type, sub_type = media_type.split("/")
+                return main_type == "text"
+
+        parser = CustomParser()
+        self.assertIs(parser.can_handle("application/json"), False)
+        self.assertTrue(parser.can_handle("text/*"), True)
+        self.assertTrue(parser.can_handle("text/csv"), True)