diff --git a/django/http/request.py b/django/http/request.py
index e5e4c51114..175cdd58b5 100644
--- a/django/http/request.py
+++ b/django/http/request.py
@@ -49,7 +49,12 @@ class HttpRequest(object):
         # Any variable assignment made here should also happen in
         # `WSGIRequest.__init__()`.
 
-        self.GET, self.POST, self.COOKIES, self.META, self.FILES = {}, {}, {}, {}, {}
+        self.GET = QueryDict(mutable=True)
+        self.POST = QueryDict(mutable=True)
+        self.COOKIES = {}
+        self.META = {}
+        self.FILES = MultiValueDict()
+
         self.path = ''
         self.path_info = ''
         self.method = None
diff --git a/docs/releases/1.8.txt b/docs/releases/1.8.txt
index 11b051fc70..96bcc55051 100644
--- a/docs/releases/1.8.txt
+++ b/docs/releases/1.8.txt
@@ -220,6 +220,12 @@ Requests and Responses
   instantiated with ``QueryDict()`` instead of ``QueryDict(None)`` or
   ``QueryDict('')``.
 
+* The ``GET`` and ``POST`` attributes of an :class:`~django.http.HttpRequest`
+  object are now :class:`~django.http.QueryDict`\s rather than dictionaries,
+  and the ``FILES`` attribute is now a ``MultiValueDict``.
+  This brings this class into line with the documentation and with
+  ``WSGIRequest``.
+
 Tests
 ^^^^^
 
diff --git a/tests/requests/tests.py b/tests/requests/tests.py
index 3f30f75eea..b778fe3718 100644
--- a/tests/requests/tests.py
+++ b/tests/requests/tests.py
@@ -27,6 +27,13 @@ class RequestsTests(SimpleTestCase):
         self.assertEqual(list(request.COOKIES.keys()), [])
         self.assertEqual(list(request.META.keys()), [])
 
+        # .GET and .POST should be QueryDicts
+        self.assertEqual(request.GET.urlencode(), '')
+        self.assertEqual(request.POST.urlencode(), '')
+
+        # and FILES should be MultiValueDict
+        self.assertEqual(request.FILES.getlist('foo'), [])
+
     def test_httprequest_repr(self):
         request = HttpRequest()
         request.path = '/somepath/'