diff --git a/scrapy/utils/decorator.py b/scrapy/utils/decorator.py
index 623736577..38bee1a6c 100644
--- a/scrapy/utils/decorator.py
+++ b/scrapy/utils/decorator.py
@@ -5,21 +5,27 @@ from twisted.internet import defer, threads
 
 from scrapy.exceptions import ScrapyDeprecationWarning
 
+
 def deprecated(use_instead=None):
     """This is a decorator which can be used to mark functions
     as deprecated. It will result in a warning being emitted
     when the function is used."""
 
-    def wrapped(func):
+    def deco(func):
         @wraps(func)
-        def new_func(*args, **kwargs):
+        def wrapped(*args, **kwargs):
             message = "Call to deprecated function %s." % func.__name__
             if use_instead:
                 message += " Use %s instead." % use_instead
             warnings.warn(message, category=ScrapyDeprecationWarning, stacklevel=2)
             return func(*args, **kwargs)
-        return new_func
-    return wrapped
+        return wrapped
+
+    if callable(use_instead):
+        deco = deco(use_instead)
+        use_instead = None
+    return deco
+
 
 def defers(func):
     """Decorator to make sure a function always returns a deferred"""
diff --git a/scrapy/utils/iterators.py b/scrapy/utils/iterators.py
index 03e98bbe2..27b117b6d 100644
--- a/scrapy/utils/iterators.py
+++ b/scrapy/utils/iterators.py
@@ -1,11 +1,10 @@
 import re, csv
 from cStringIO import StringIO
 
-from scrapy.http import TextResponse
+from scrapy.http import TextResponse, Response
 from scrapy.selector import Selector
 from scrapy import log
 from scrapy.utils.python import re_rsearch, str_to_unicode
-from scrapy.utils.response import body_or_str
 
 
 def xmliter(obj, nodename):
@@ -19,7 +18,7 @@ def xmliter(obj, nodename):
     """
     HEADER_START_RE = re.compile(r'^(.*?)<\s*%s(?:\s|>)' % nodename, re.S)
     HEADER_END_RE = re.compile(r'<\s*/%s\s*>' % nodename, re.S)
-    text = body_or_str(obj)
+    text = _body_or_str(obj)
 
     header_start = re.search(HEADER_START_RE, text)
     header_start = header_start.group(1).strip() if header_start else ''
@@ -49,7 +48,7 @@ def csviter(obj, delimiter=None, headers=None, encoding=None):
     def _getrow(csv_r):
         return [str_to_unicode(field, encoding) for field in next(csv_r)]
 
-    lines = StringIO(body_or_str(obj, unicode=False))
+    lines = StringIO(_body_or_str(obj, unicode=False))
     if delimiter:
         csv_r = csv.reader(lines, delimiter=delimiter)
     else:
@@ -67,3 +66,13 @@ def csviter(obj, delimiter=None, headers=None, encoding=None):
         else:
             yield dict(zip(headers, row))
 
+
+def _body_or_str(obj, unicode=True):
+    assert isinstance(obj, (Response, basestring)), \
+        "obj must be Response or basestring, not %s" % type(obj).__name__
+    if isinstance(obj, Response):
+        return obj.body_as_unicode() if unicode else obj.body
+    elif isinstance(obj, str):
+        return obj.decode('utf-8') if unicode else obj
+    else:
+        return obj if unicode else obj.encode('utf-8')
diff --git a/scrapy/utils/response.py b/scrapy/utils/response.py
index 85d0b60f0..61f43535f 100644
--- a/scrapy/utils/response.py
+++ b/scrapy/utils/response.py
@@ -13,17 +13,15 @@ from twisted.web import http
 from twisted.web.http import RESPONSES
 from w3lib import html
 
-from scrapy.http import Response, HtmlResponse, TextResponse
+from scrapy.http import HtmlResponse, TextResponse
+from scrapy.utils.decorator import deprecated
+
+
+@deprecated
+def body_or_str(*a, **kw):
+    from scrapy.utils.iterators import _body_or_str
+    return _body_or_str(*a, **kw)
 
-def body_or_str(obj, unicode=True):
-    assert isinstance(obj, (Response, basestring)), \
-        "obj must be Response or basestring, not %s" % type(obj).__name__
-    if isinstance(obj, Response):
-        return obj.body_as_unicode() if unicode else obj.body
-    elif isinstance(obj, str):
-        return obj.decode('utf-8') if unicode else obj
-    else:
-        return obj if unicode else obj.encode('utf-8')
 
 _baseurl_cache = weakref.WeakKeyDictionary()
 def get_base_url(response):