diff -r 2072deff3b2f Lib/email/message.py
--- a/Lib/email/message.py	Mon Feb 24 14:31:25 2014 -0800
+++ b/Lib/email/message.py	Sat Mar 01 17:44:35 2014 +0530
@@ -200,6 +200,8 @@
         is called.  If you want to set the payload to a scalar object, use
         set_payload() instead.
         """
+        if isinstance(self._payload, str):
+            raise TypeError("Payload cannot be a string")
         if self._payload is None:
             self._payload = [payload]
         else:
diff -r 2072deff3b2f Lib/test/test_email/test_email.py
--- a/Lib/test/test_email/test_email.py	Mon Feb 24 14:31:25 2014 -0800
+++ b/Lib/test/test_email/test_email.py	Sat Mar 01 17:44:35 2014 +0530
@@ -124,6 +124,10 @@
         msg.set_payload([])
         self.assertEqual(msg.get_payload(), [])
 
+    def test_string_payload_to_attach(self):
+        msg = Message()
+        self.assertRaises(TypeError,msg.attach(''))
+
     def test_get_charsets(self):
         eq = self.assertEqual