diff --git a/docs/ref/request-response.txt b/docs/ref/request-response.txt
index e5ded0c9e0..5c466a6c6e 100644
--- a/docs/ref/request-response.txt
+++ b/docs/ref/request-response.txt
@@ -627,7 +627,7 @@ Attributes
 
 .. attribute:: HttpResponse.content
 
-    A string representing the content, encoded from a Unicode
+    A bytestring representing the content, encoded from a Unicode
     object if necessary.
 
 .. attribute:: HttpResponse.status_code