diff --git a/tests/test_curl.py b/tests/test_curl.py
index caf8d3d..dcdd437 100644
--- a/tests/test_curl.py
+++ b/tests/test_curl.py
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+from copy import deepcopy
 import socket
 import unittest
 from uwsgi_tools.curl import cli
@@ -22,3 +23,23 @@ def test_file_socket(self):
     def test_headers(self):
         with server(callback=lambda x: self.assertIn(b'localhost', x)):
             self.assertFalse(cli('127.0.0.1:3030', '-H', 'Host: localhost'))
+
+    def test_post(self):
+        requests = []
+
+        def request_sniper(x):
+            requests.append(deepcopy(x))
+
+        with server(callback=request_sniper):
+            self.assertFalse(cli(
+                '--method', 'POST',
+                '--header', 'Content-Type: application/json',
+                r'''--data=\'{"foo":"bar"}\'''',
+                '127.0.0.1',
+                'host.name/'))
+
+        self.assertIn(b'POST', requests[0])
+        # Magic number is the val_size + val
+        self.assertIn(b'CONTENT_LENGTH\x02\x0017', requests[0])
+        self.assertIn(b'CONTENT_TYPE', requests[0])
+        self.assertIn(b'application/json', requests[0])
diff --git a/uwsgi_tools/curl.py b/uwsgi_tools/curl.py
index 1cd7b95..eda10f4 100644
--- a/uwsgi_tools/curl.py
+++ b/uwsgi_tools/curl.py
@@ -17,11 +17,8 @@ def ask_uwsgi(uwsgi_addr, var, body='', timeout=0, udp=False):
     if timeout:
         s.settimeout(timeout)
 
-    if body is None:
-        body = ''
-
     s.connect(addr)
-    s.send(pack_uwsgi_vars(var) + body.encode('utf8'))
+    s.send(pack_uwsgi_vars(var) + body)
     response = []
     while 1:
         data = s.recv(4096)
@@ -45,6 +42,8 @@ def curl(uwsgi_addr, url, method='GET', body='', timeout=0, headers=(),
     else:
         port = None
 
+    body = (body or '').encode('utf-8')
+
     var = {
         'SERVER_PROTOCOL': 'HTTP/1.1',
         'PATH_INFO': parts_uri.path,
@@ -52,10 +51,22 @@ def curl(uwsgi_addr, url, method='GET', body='', timeout=0, headers=(),
         'REQUEST_URI': uri,
         'QUERY_STRING': parts_uri.query,
         'HTTP_HOST': host,
+        'CONTENT_LENGTH': str(len(body)),
+        # Other varaibles seen in nginx's uwsgi_params file but not explicitly
+        # handled anywhere in this file
+        # https://github.com/nginx/nginx/blob/master/conf/uwsgi_params
+        # DOCUMENT_ROOT
+        # REQUEST_SCHEME
+        # HTTPS
+        # REMOTE_ADDR
+        # REMOTE_PORT
     }
+
     for header in headers or ():
         key, _, value = header.partition(':')
-        var['HTTP_' + key.strip().upper()] = value.strip()
+        var['HTTP_' + key.strip().upper().replace('-', '_')] = value.strip()
+    if 'HTTP_CONTENT_TYPE' in var.keys():
+        var['CONTENT_TYPE'] = var['HTTP_CONTENT_TYPE']
     var['SERVER_NAME'] = var['HTTP_HOST']
     if port:
         var['SERVER_PORT'] = str(port)
diff --git a/uwsgi_tools/proxy.py b/uwsgi_tools/proxy.py
index 182fe75..9b05fed 100644
--- a/uwsgi_tools/proxy.py
+++ b/uwsgi_tools/proxy.py
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ def do(self):
         env.pop('HTTP_REFERER', 0)
 
         cl = env['CONTENT_LENGTH']
-        body = repr(self.rfile.read(int(cl))) if cl else ''
+        body = (repr(self.rfile.read(int(cl))) if cl else '').encode('utf-8')
 
         resp = ask_uwsgi((self.server.uwsgi_addr, self.server.uwsgi_port),
                          var=env, body=body)