diff --git a/src/graceful/resources/base.py b/src/graceful/resources/base.py
index d9aa9df..18c8e3d 100644
--- a/src/graceful/resources/base.py
+++ b/src/graceful/resources/base.py
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 
 from falcon import errors
 import falcon
+from mimeparse import parse_mime_type
 
 from graceful.parameters import BaseParam, IntParam
 from graceful.errors import DeserializationError, ValidationError
@@ -297,13 +298,22 @@ def require_representation(self, req):
             dict: raw dictionary of representation supplied in request body
 
         """
+        try:
+            type_, subtype, _ = parse_mime_type(req.content_type)
+            content_type = '/'.join((type_, subtype))
+        except:
+            raise falcon.HTTPUnsupportedMediaType(
+                description="Invalid Content-Type header: {}".format(
+                    req.content_type
+                )
+            )
 
-        if req.content_type == 'application/json':
+        if content_type == 'application/json':
             body = req.stream.read()
             return json.loads(body.decode('utf-8'))
         else:
             raise falcon.HTTPUnsupportedMediaType(
-                description="only JSON supported"
+                description="only JSON supported, got: {}".format(content_type)
             )
 
     def require_validated(self, req, partial=False):
diff --git a/tests/test_resources.py b/tests/test_resources.py
index a27782e..ed79f43 100644
--- a/tests/test_resources.py
+++ b/tests/test_resources.py
@@ -300,3 +300,47 @@ class TestResource(Resource):
 
     with pytest.raises(errors.HTTPBadRequest):
         resource.require_validated(Request(env))
+
+
+def test_require_representation_application_json():
+    resource = TestResource()
+
+    # simple application/json content type
+    env = create_environ(
+        body=json.dumps({'one': 'foo', 'two': 'foo'}),
+        headers={'Content-Type': 'application/json'},
+    )
+
+    representation = resource.require_representation(Request(env))
+    assert isinstance(representation, dict)
+
+    # application/json content type with charset param
+    env = create_environ(
+        body=json.dumps({'one': 'foo', 'two': 'foo'}),
+        headers={'Content-Type': 'application/json; charset=UTF-8'},
+    )
+
+    representation = resource.require_representation(Request(env))
+    assert isinstance(representation, dict)
+
+
+def test_require_representation_unsupported_media_type():
+    resource = TestResource()
+
+    # invalid content type format
+    env = create_environ(
+        body=json.dumps({'one': 'foo', 'two': 'foo'}),
+        headers={'Content-Type': 'foo bar'},
+    )
+
+    with pytest.raises(falcon.HTTPUnsupportedMediaType):
+        resource.require_representation(Request(env))
+
+    # valid format but surely unsupported (RFC-1437)
+    env = create_environ(
+        body=json.dumps({'one': 'foo', 'two': 'foo'}),
+        headers={'Content-Type': 'matter-transport/sentient-life-form'},
+    )
+
+    with pytest.raises(falcon.HTTPUnsupportedMediaType):
+        resource.require_representation(Request(env))