diff --git a/rest_framework_xml/parsers.py b/rest_framework_xml/parsers.py
index b6364c4..7e1bd4a 100644
--- a/rest_framework_xml/parsers.py
+++ b/rest_framework_xml/parsers.py
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ def parse(self, stream, media_type=None, parser_context=None):
 
     def _check_xml_list(self, element):
         """
-        Checks that an element has multiple tags and that they are all the same, 
+        Checks that an element has multiple tags and that they are all the same,
         to validate that the element is a properly formatted list
         """
         return len(element) > 1 and len(set([child.tag for child in element])) <= 1
diff --git a/tests/test_parsers.py b/tests/test_parsers.py
index 27258a8..3e5597a 100644
--- a/tests/test_parsers.py
+++ b/tests/test_parsers.py
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 
 
 from django.test import TestCase
+from django.utils import unittest
 from django.utils.six.moves import StringIO
 from rest_framework_xml.parsers import XMLParser
 from rest_framework_xml.compat import etree
@@ -95,21 +96,25 @@ def setUp(self):
             ]
         }
 
+    @unittest.skipUnless(etree, 'defusedxml not installed')
     def test_parse(self):
         parser = XMLParser()
         data = parser.parse(self._input)
         self.assertEqual(data, self._data)
 
+    @unittest.skipUnless(etree, 'defusedxml not installed')
     def test_complex_data_parse(self):
         parser = XMLParser()
         data = parser.parse(self._complex_data_input)
         self.assertEqual(data, self._complex_data)
 
+    @unittest.skipUnless(etree, 'defusedxml not installed')
     def test_invalid_list_parse(self):
         parser = XMLParser()
         data = parser.parse(self._invalid_list_input)
         self.assertEqual(data, self._invalid_list_output)
 
+    @unittest.skipUnless(etree, 'defusedxml not installed')
     def test_valid_list_parse(self):
         parser = XMLParser()
         data = parser.parse(self._valid_list_input)
diff --git a/tests/test_renderers.py b/tests/test_renderers.py
index 76be755..99c5f22 100644
--- a/tests/test_renderers.py
+++ b/tests/test_renderers.py
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 from decimal import Decimal
 
 from django.test import TestCase
+from django.utils import unittest
 from django.utils.six.moves import StringIO
 from rest_framework_xml.renderers import XMLRenderer
 from rest_framework_xml.parsers import XMLParser
@@ -96,6 +97,7 @@ def test_render_list(self):
         self.assertXMLContains(content, '<sub_data_list><list-item>')
         self.assertXMLContains(content, '</list-item></sub_data_list>')
 
+    @unittest.skipUnless(etree, 'defusedxml not installed')
     def test_render_and_parse_complex_data(self):
         """
         Test XML rendering.